Court comes to rescue of Netaji aide's widow
4 Mar 2008, 0001 hrs IST,TNN
CHANDIGARH: In a historic verdict, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on
Monday asked the Centre to pay Rs 1 lakh arrears to the widow of Indian
National Army's Surjan Singh - who served as a Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's
bodyguard - for its failure to pay him the freedom fighters' pension.
The court also ordered the Union government to pay Gurbachan Kaur, within two
months, the arrears due for the past 30 years and an interest of 10% on the
total amount till the time of actual disbursement.
A division bench comprising justices M M Kumar and Tej Pratap Singh Mann
pronounced the order while disposing Gurbachan Kaur's writ petition.
Kaur, who hails from Ballianwala village in Tarn Taran district, had moved the
high court in 2007. The court pronounced the verdict in a record 10-month time.
A division bench, headed by Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar had earlier heard the
writ petition and issued notices to the officials concerned.
Singh received the pension between 1972 and 1977, before it was suddenly
stopped without any reason. The freedom fightersÂ’ division in the Union home
affairs ministry ignored various representations for the restoration of the
pension. A legal notice, too, was served. Singh, who received Tamra Patra from
the then PM, Indira Gandhi, in 1972, fought for his pension till his death in
2000.
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