W.P.No.14733 of 2020 W.P.No.14733 of 2020 R.SURESH KUMAR, J. Mr.Muthukumar, learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents 2 to

W.P.No.14733 of 2020
W.P.No.14733 of 2020
R.SURESH KUMAR, J.
Mr.Muthukumar, learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents 2 to
4 has produced the file and submitted that, though the issue has been pending for several
years, the officials of the Government side alone cannot be blamed for the delay, as in between,
several correspondences taken place between the petitioner and the respondents. At one point
of time, the documents filed in support of the claim made by the petitioner having not been
considered, for which, the Committee headed by the Collector concerned was of the opined
that, the two co-prisoners certificates produced by the petitioner were not clear and also there
are some discrepancy in the claim made by the petitioner with regard to his Date of Birth,
therefore preliminarily these things have to be rectified and it can be considered later on.
2. Thereafter also it seems that, several correspondences taken place between the
petitioner and the respondents and ultimately in the year 2018, the District Collector, after
having gone through all these documents, seems to have decided that, the co-prisoner
certificates produced by the petitioner are not clear, therefore on that ground, a negative
recommendation would be made to the Central Government for getting SSS Pension.
3. However, the learned Special Government Pleader would fairly submit that, as far as
the sanction of the State Government pension, though initially, as per the relevant Rules and the
Government Orders, only some of the specified certificates have to be taken into account as a
primary documents for the purpose of sanctioning the State Government Pension for freedom
fighters, subsequently, the co-prisoner certificate was also considered to be one of the
document based on which, the case of the freedom fighter who seek State Government
Freedom Fighters Pension can be considered. In this context, he would further submit that, one
co-prisoner certificate with relevant particulars to the satisfaction of the Scrutiny or Screening
Committee is submitted by the Freedom Fighter concerned, who seeks for freedom fighters
pension from the State Government, based on that, the request of the seeker of pension would
be considered.
4. In this context, the learned Special Government Pleader has also pointed out that, out
of the two co-prisoners certificates given in support of the claim of the petitioner, the certificate
given by one Kumar, who is also a freedom fighter, is not in the format and in fact, it has not
given the detail as to from which period to which period, he had undergone the imprisonment
and during that period, whether the petitioner was also imprisoned in the same jail, unless those
particulars are given, it cannot be construed that, it is a valid co-prisoner certificate, therefore
the said certificate given by one Kumar, in support of the case of the petitioner cannot be
considered. However, he would further submit that, insofar as the co-prisoner certificate of one
freedom fighter R.Kannan is concerned, though it is in the format, where, also the period of the
imprisonment undergone by him as well as the petitioner has been mentioned, even in that
certificate also, there is a discrepancy to state that, the certifier had undergone imprisonment
from April 1945 to March 1945. Since this discrepancy is found in the co-prisoner certificate,
based on which only, the Screening Committee took a decision in 2015 to clarify this position
and in this regard, since the clarification has not come from the petitioner side, the matter has
been kept pending all along and thereafter, at one point of time, it was decided that, based on
the said co-prisoner certificate, recommendation cannot be made to the Central Government for
considering the case of the petitioner for sanctioning of SSS Pension.
5. Therefore, the learned Special Government Pleader submits that, this is the position
as of now prevailing, therefore based on which the issue can be decided by this Court
judiciously.
6. I have considered the said submissions made by the learned Special Government
Pleader appearing for the State Government and have gone through the materials placed
before this Court.
7. In the original records, the co-prisoner certificate given by two freedom fighters,
namely one R.Kannan and one O.Kumar are available. Insofar as the certificate issued by one
O.Kumar, the details that from which period to which period, the said certifier had undergone the
imprisonment has not been stated and also it has not been stated in the said certificate that the
petitioner had undergone the imprisonment during the relevant period. Unless these particulars
are given by the certifier of the co-prisoner certificate, the said claim made by either the certifier
or the petitioner cannot be verified.
8. Be that as it may, insofar as the co-prisoner certificate given by R.Kannan, it has been
clearly mentioned that the certifier had been in jail at Burma from April 1945 to March 1946
(erroneously mentioned as 1945) and it has further been stated in that certificate that, the
petitioner had also undergone the imprisonment in the same jail during the relevant period, i.e.,
from July 1945 to January 1946.
9. Because of the typographical error crept in the certificate, where, instead of March
1946, it has been typed as March 1945, that seems to have triggered the Screening Committee
to take a decision that, there is a discrepancy in the certificate and only based on the alleged
discrepancy, it seems that, the said co-prisoner certificate given by R.Kannan, not have been
accepted by the State Authorities. However, in order to appreciate the said certificate, the entire
content of the certificate is extracted for easy reference:
“Co-Prisoner Certificate
I, R.Kannan, son of Rangswamy, (late) Freedom Fighter, Pensioner, residing at No.1276,
V Block, V.O.C.Nagar, Tondiarpet, Chennai-81 do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare that I
know S.Gafoor, son late.Sulaiman, residing at No.350, B.V.Colony, Plot No.385, 7th Street,
Vysarpadi, Chennai – 600 039, personally from Burma. He has been an I.N.A. Person attached
to the Nehru Brigade and was in Combat Service in Burma war Grant.
The said S.Gaffoor was arrested by the British Forces and imprisoned in Rangoon
Central Jail from 1945 to January 1946. I was arrested by the British Forces and imprisoned in
Rangoon Central Jail from April 1945 to March 1945 and the said S.Gaffoor was a co-prisoner
with me in the said Jail from July 1945 to January 1946.
I am getting freedom fighter pension from Central Revenue Home Ministry Order
No.29/MDS/15631/681/INA, dated 27.10.1993.
Solemny affirmed and signed Sd/-
his name at Madras this 18th (R.Kannan)
day of June 1997 in my presence Deponent”
10. In the second para, the words, “from April 1945 to March 1945” since has been
wrongly typed as 1945 instead of 1946 as it could not be between April 1945 to March 1945, the
same can very well be ascertained from the wordings used in the next and last sentence of para
2 of the certificate which says that, “the said S.Gaffoor was a co-prisoner with me in the said jail
from July 1945 to January 1946”. Therefore within the period between April 1945 and March
1946, where the certifier has undergone the imprisonment in the same jail, the petitioner also
had undergone the imprisonment between July 1945 and January 1946.
11. It is further to be noted that, as has been pointed out by the learned Special
Government appearing for the State Government, one of the main criteria, based on which the
authorities can be satisfied, is that, the co-prisoner certificate certifying that, the freedom fighter
has undergone the imprisonment and in this regard, originally the requirement of imprisonment
was three months and subsequently, it has been reduced to one month and later on, it was
further reduced to three weeks. Therefore as of now, the requirement of the State Government
is that, if a freedom fighter had undergone imprisonment for three weeks, that is enough, based
on which, the case of the pension seeker can be considered.
12. Here in the case on hand, as per the co-prisoner certificate, the petitioner had
undergone imprisonment for more than six months, i.e., July 1945 to January 1946 and the
same has also been certified by a co-prisoner who had undergone more than one year
imprisonment in the same jail and whose sacrifice has been recognised by the Central
Government, by sanctioning SSS Pension to the said certifier / freedom fighter, by order dated
27.10.1993 itself.
13. Therefore, on the basis of this prima facie material, that too from the contents of the
co-prisoner certificate issued by R.Kannan, this Court feels that, this aspect can very well be
considered by the District Level Screening Committee / District Collector / State Government
and if this is considered, certainly, this Court is in fond hope that, the request of the petitioner
would be accepted for sanctioning atleast the State Government Freedom Fighter’s Pension.
14. It is also to be noted that, as per the Aadhar Card issued by the Central Government,
the petitioner’s date of date of birth is of the year 1921 and in support of this, the petitioner has
also produced a medical certificate issued by the Doctor after diagnosing the physic of the
petitioner. Therefore, these documents can also be taken into account for the purpose of
arriving the date of birth or birth year of the petitioner, only for the limited purpose to satisfy that,
during the relevant point of time in the freedom struggle i.e., between 1940 to 1945 atleast the
petitioner had been in the tender age of not less than 15 years.
15. Therefore, taking into account the aforesaid, this Court is inclined to pass the
following order :
(i) that the respondents 2 to 4 are hereby directed to place these documents for scrutiny either
before the District Level Screening Committee headed by the District Collector concerned or
before the State Government consisting of the officials of the Public (Freedom Fighters Pension)
Department and accordingly decide the claim of the petitioner based on the co-prisoner
certificate issued by one R.Kannan by taking into account the observation made by this Court in
this order and accordingly, take a decision thereon.
(ii) The said exercise, as indicated above, shall be undertaken by the authorities at the earliest
and communicate the decision to this Court, by filing a status report during the next hearing
date. For the said purpose, post this matter on 26.11.2020.
16. The learned Special Government Pleader is directed to get back the original file from
this Court and the same can be reproduced during the next hearing.
11.11.2020
Note: Issue today (11.11.2020)
Sgl
R.SURESH KUMAR, J.
Sgl
W.P.No.14733 of 2020

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