Judge R-Sureskumar –Terming the undue delay in sanctioning freedom fighters dependent pension to the 75-year-old widow of a freedom fighter as pathetic, Madras high court on Thursday observed that the authorities should act swiftly to avoid delay in extending the benefit to freedom fighters and their dependants.

[10/4, 08:19] Sekarreporter 1: ‘Freedom fighter’s kin’s struggle for pension pathetic’ – http://toi.in/IH4KGb18/a31gj

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[10/4, 08:19] Sekarreporter 1: CITY
‘Freedom fighter’s kin’s struggle for pension pathetic’
Kaushik Kannan | TNN | Oct 3, 2020, 04:48 IST
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Madurai: Terming the undue delay in sanctioning freedom fighters dependent pension to the 75-year-old widow of a freedom fighter as pathetic, Madras high court on Thursday observed that the authorities should act swiftly to avoid delay in extending the benefit to freedom fighters and their dependants.
The court was hearing the petition filed by M Meenatchi alias Meenachiammal Muppidathi, whose husband Muppidathi was a freedom fighter and had received pension from the Centre’s Swatantrata Sainik Samman pension scheme since 2010. After Muppidathi died in 2013, she submitted an application seeking dependent pension but it was yet to be considered.
Justice R Suresh Kumar observed that in the present case, no other requirement was necessary, except to verify whether the petitioner is the widow and dependent of the freedom fighter, who was already receiving the pension till his demise in 2013. Such a long delay could have been avoided by the authorities, but fortunately for the petitioner, she is still surviving to see the light of the day in getting a dependent pension for the service rendered by her late husband to the nation during the freedom struggle.
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Hence the judge directed the secretary of Union ministry of home affairs (freedom fighters division) to consider the petitioner’s application and pass appropriate orders sanctioning freedom fighter’s dependent pension with arrears from March 20, 2013.
The judge directed that the authorities shall continue to pay the dependent pension to the petitioner till her lifetime, and that the authorities must complete the exercise in six weeks.

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