Ganesh Chandra Jaiswal vs The State Of Bihar And Ors
2022 Latest Caselaw 4507 Patna

          IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                    Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.1396 of 2018
     ======================================================

Ganesh Chandra Jaiswal S/o Brij Raj Choudhary Residents of Village P.O. P.S.- Dalsinghsarai, District Samastipur, at Present residing at Barkagaon Road, Shankarpur, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand- 825301

... ... Petitioner/s Versus

1. The State Of Bihar

2. The Chief Secretary, Department of Home, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

3. The Dy. Secretary, Department of HomeSpecial Branch, Govt. of Bihar,Patna.

4. The Under Secretary, Swatantrata Senani Prabhag, Ministry of Home, Govt.

of India, NDCC Bhawan-11,

... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

     For the Petitioner/s   :     Mr.Arvind Kumar, Advocate
     For the State          :     Mr.Manish Kumar, GP-4
                                  Mr. Deepak Kumar, AC to GP-4
     For the UOI            :     Mr. Awadhesh Kr. Pandey, Sr. Panel Counsel
                                  Mr. Saket Chobey, Advocate
                                  Mr. Komal Chowbey, Advocate
                                  Mr. R.K. Sharma, C.G.C.

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MOHIT KUMAR SHAH ORAL JUDGMENT Date : 16-08-2022

The present writ petition has been filed for quashing the

letter dated 28.04.2017 issued by the Government of India,

Ministry of Home Affairs (FFR Division), by which the

petitioner has been communicated that the application of the

father of the petitioner for grant of freedom fighter Samman

pension has been rejected. It is further prayed that the father of

the petitioner be granted freedom fighter Samman pension.

The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted

that the father of the petitioner namely Late Braj Raj Choudhary Patna High Court CWJC No.1396 of 2018 dt.16-08-2022

was a patriot as well as a freedom fighter who suffered a lot

during the freedom movement. It is submitted that the

Department of Home, Government of Bihar has written to the

Under Secretary, Government of India vide letter dated

05.08.1992, and recommended for grant of Freedom Fighter

Samman pension to the father of the petitioner. It is submitted

that the father of the petitioner had remained underground from

15.07.1942 to the month of August, 1945. It is also submitted

that the father of the petitioner died in the year 1988, whereafter

the matter is being pursued by the petitioner, however, to no

avail. Lastly, it is submitted that by a letter dated 28.04.2017,

the petitioner has been informed that the claim of the father of

the petitioner for grant of freedom fighter pension had been

rejected long back on 03.11.1993, which is perverse and illegal.

Per contra, the learned counsel for the respondent no. 4

has submitted that only such freedom fighters are eligible for the

samman pension who fulfill the criteria mentioned in the

Swatantrata Sainik Samman pension scheme by furnishing the

proof of claimed sufferings of the nature and in the manner

specified in the scheme itself. It is also submitted that the claim

of the deceased father of the petitioner was rejected way back in

the year 1993 and now after 25 years a belated claim has been Patna High Court CWJC No.1396 of 2018 dt.16-08-2022

set up by filing the present writ petition. It is also submitted that

the claim of the father of the petitioner is based on secondary

evidence and supported by personal knowledge certificates

issued by two freedom fighters but the copy of self jail suffering

certificates of both certifiers are not enclosed, which are

essential as per the guidelines of SSS Yojana. The pension can

be sanctioned only after submission of proof as required in the

SSS Yojana and in no other manner. The learned counsel for the

respondent no. 4 has also referred to the judgments rendered by

the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Union of India vs. Bikash

R. and Union of India vs. K. Indrasena Reddy to submit that a

freedom fighter would be entitled to pension under the SSS

Yojana only if he fulfills the eligibility criteria/conditions laid

down under the said Yojana. It is further contended that mere

recommendation of the State Government is not sufficient and

the competent authority before deciding grant of pension must

see whether the case of the freedom fighter falls within the

eligibility criteria and evidentiary requirements of the SSS

Yojana. It is also submitted that as per clause no. 1.5 of the

revised policy/guidelines of SSS pension scheme, circulated

vide order no. 45/03/2014 FF(P) dated 06.08.2014, the

petitioner is not eligible to claim freedom fighter pension and Patna High Court CWJC No.1396 of 2018 dt.16-08-2022

any Life Time Arrears of Freedom Fighter pension under the

SSS pension scheme. Clause 1.5 reads as follows:-

"Sanction of pension after the death of Freedom Fighter:No pension shall be sanctioned in the name of the freedom fighter after his/hear death even if his/her matter was under examination. This also entails that no life time arrears or dependant pension shall be sanctioned to his/her spouse/daughter after the death of the freedom fighter."

Hence, it is submitted that since the father of the

petitioner died in the year 1981, the petitioner is not eligible to

claim freedom fighter pension under the SSS Yojana. In any

view of the mater, it is submitted by the learned counsel for the

respondent no. 4 that even otherwise the petitioner is not

eligible to claim life time arrears of freedom fighter pension

inasmuch as the dependant pension can only be sanctioned

either to the spouse or to the unmarried daughter. However, in

the present case the case of the father of the petitioner had also

stood rejected vide letter dated 03.11.1993, hence the petitioner

is not entitled to grant of any freedom fighter pension qua his

father. The learned counsel for the respondent no. 4 has also

drawn the attention of this Court with regard to the peculiar

facts of the present case which can be summed up as follows:-

"i. Home(spl) Department of Bihar Government Patna High Court CWJC No.1396 of 2018 dt.16-08-2022

had forwarded the application of Late Brij Raj Choudhary for granting of freedom fighter pension vide their letter no. 2048/C dated 05.08.1992.

ii. After scrutinizing the above cited application, this Ministry had found that following documents were not enclosed alongwith the application:- a. Personal Knowledge Certificate (PKC) of Shri Kapil Dev Thakur and Shri Prayag Mahato.

b. Non availability Certificate of concern Court G.R.

iii. Accordingly the Ministry of Home had informed the Home (spl) Department of Bihar Govt. vide letter no. CZ/114/11523/93 FF(Bihar) dated 23.03.1993 with a direction to submit the above mentioned two certificates.

iv. The application of Late Brij Raj Choudhary for granting of freedom fighter pension was rejected by this Ministry on 03.11.1993.

v. Shri Brij Raj Choudhary (deceased), applicant of above cited application died in 1988.

iv. LR (Ganesh Chandra Jaiswal) of Late Brij Raj Choudhary has approached this Hon'ble Court. It is also submitted by the learned counsel for the

respondent no. 4 that the petitioner has claimed that his late

father remained underground since 25th August, 1942 to August,

1945, however, the father of the applicant had not produced any

documentary evidence for the purposes of acceptance of his Patna High Court CWJC No.1396 of 2018 dt.16-08-2022

claim for SSS Pension. Lastly, it is submitted by the learned

counsel for the respondent no. 4 that the application of

petitioner's father was not supported by required documents as

per the SSS Yojana and after scrutinizing the above cited

application, the respondent no. 4 found the deficiency of

essential documents.

I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone

through the materials on record from which it is apparent that

the present writ petition has been filed belatedly and suffers

from gross delay and laches inasmuch as though the case of the

father of the petitioner for grant of SSS pension was rejected on

03.11.1993, the son of the deceased freedom fighter i.e. the

petitioner herein has approached this Court only by filing the

present writ petition in the year 2018 i.e. after a lapse of about

29 years, hence on this ground alone the present writ petition is

fit to be dismissed. Nonetheless, even on merits the petitioner

has got no case inasmuch as the father of the petitioner had

failed to submit the documentary evidence/proof as required

under the SSS Yojana. Moreover, this Court finds that as per

clause 1.5 of the revised guidelines of the respondent no. 4, no

pension can be sanctioned in the name of the freedom fighter

after his/her death even if his/her matter was under examination.

Patna High Court CWJC No.1396 of 2018 dt.16-08-2022

Moreover, life time arrears or dependent pension is payable

only to the spouse or unmarried daughter of the freedom fighter,

however, after the death of the freedom fighter, same cannot be

sanctioned, hence the present writ petition is utterly

misconceived and fit to be dismissed. This Court also finds that

the father of the petitioner had died in the year 1988 and his

case for grant of freedom fighter pension was rejected in the

year 1993, however, the petitioner has been pursuing a stale

claim which depicts his greed, hence he is not only dis-entitled

to any relief but is also liable to be penalized but this Court

refrains from taking such extreme step against the petitioner.

Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case

and for the reasons mentioned herein above, I do not find any

merit in the present writ petition which is thoroughly

misconceived, hence the same stands dismissed.

(Mohit Kumar Shah, J) S.Sb/-

AFR/NAFR                AFR
CAV DATE
Uploading Date          19.08.2022
Transmission Date