Dear Veterans,
Regards.Maj.Navdeep has posted the following on his blog. Our
organisation fully endosres his views and I request all other
welfare organisations of veterans to take same stand. The legal
pundits are bent upon crushing the pensioners, particulary,
the veterans and their dependents. We will have to take a bold
stand against this injustice being done to us all. We should stand
united and pay heed to the clarion call given by Maj. Navdeep.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The gameplan of legal pundits : The govt sleeps while
sadists take the system for a ride
You may have read this on the blog before.
All is fair in love and war they say, and the same seems to be
the battle-cry of the Central Government against its retired
employees.So what is it that the people in officialdom have
against disabled veterans and pensioners ?The last months
have seen the Union of India filing appeals and SLPs in almost
every decision of the Hon’ble Courts allowing disability
pension to disabled veterans. The same is the story with other
pensionary matters. I feel ashamed in saying this but while the
lawyers make hay, former soldiers and their families suffer in
silence.It is turning out to be sickening now. And this is to say
the least.Law has now been well settled by the Courts including
the Hon’ble Supreme Court on certain issues, but the legal
advisors of the government are in no mood to relent. Even when
High Courts (and now benches of the AFT) are deciding matters
with well-rounded decisions based on settled law and principles
of equity, the central govt continues to mindlessly file appeals
before the Supreme Court. The govt also continues to refuse
benefits to veterans in settled issues till the time individual cases
are filed separately by pensioners. One such glaring example
discussed before is disability pension to voluntary retirees.
Despite the fact that the Supreme Court has upheld the right of
voluntary retirees to receive disability pension, the Union of
India continues to file appeals against decisions of High Courts
granting such benefits to affected disabled personnel. Another
very recent and shocking example is SLP No 688 of 2010 filed by
the Central Govt before the Supreme Court which was listed for
hearing on 25th of January, 2010. The case involved the improved
pensionary benefits granted to PBOR wef 10-10-1997 after
removing the anomalies of the 5th CPC. The Hon’ble Punjab &
Haryana High Court had earlier in the year 2008 held that such
benefits had to be granted to affected personnel with effect from
01-01-1996 (and not 10-10-1997) since the anomaly had to be
rectified from the date of its inception and not from some other
prospective artificial date. The High Court had hence held
personnel who retired between 01-01-1996 to 10-10-1997 also
entitled to the enhanced benefits. The Union of India, as expected,
challenged the verdict before the Hon’ble Supreme Court through
an SLP but the same was dismissed on merits on 21-11-2008. So
far, so good, but what is shameful is that fully knowing that the
law was now settled by the Apex Court and that the Central Govt.
had itself rectified this anomaly through the anomalies committee,
another SLP (the above mentioned 688 of 2010) was filed by them
this new year against another such decision by the same High
Court and the same has again been dismissed by the Apex Court
on 25-01-2010. I bet the Hon’ble Supreme Court would not have
been informed in the fresh SLP of the earlier dismissal of an
exactly similar case in the year 2008.It is high time that the
Defence Minister, the military top brass and the Defence
Secretary take a call on this mindless one sided ego based
litigation which, besides leading to burdening judicial fora,
is also leading to burden on the State and demoralisation of
rank and file. Nobody stands to gain except probably the
battery of lawyers appearing for the Union of India. It also
seems that power has been concentrated in the hands of a few
officers dealing with pensionary and legal matters who have
spent quite a few years in the corridors of the Services
Headquarters & the Ministry and decisions of filing appeals
are thrust upon the top brass without due judiciousness or
sensitivity concerning the issues at hand. This must change.
A letter recently marked to the Defence Minster by a an
ex-services welfare organisation aptly describes the rot :
“Lower staff at the Pension wing of the Defence Ministry is
also known to prepare misleading and deceptive noting sheets
which are put up to senior officers and even the Raksha Mantri,
who in good faith affix their initials leaving the gallery open to
such officers who then flaunt the said approvals by stating that
the same have the sanction of the Defence Minister. It is also
learnt that the officers in the Defence Ministry have asked Govt.
lawyers in writing to change their legal opinion when such
lawyers had advised against filing of appeals.”What is the game
behind this, one may ask. Well, the govt is well aware that
disabled veterans and poor pensioners do not have adequate
financial back-up to defend their cases in the Supreme Court,
so for the govt it is well worth taking a chance. I can only say
that in the interest of equity and fair-play, we all must wake
up before some officers take the entire defence services and the
legal system for a royal ride. It is also time for senior staff of the
Ministry and our uniformed officers to apply proper mind
before they permit their subordinates to resort to unethical
litigation against poor people who have served the nation to
the best of their abilities. The hint of my call is particularly
directed towards the upper echelons of Department of
Ex-Servicemen Welfare in the MoD and the Personnel Services
Directorate in the Army Headquarters. The tendency to view
poor litigants as ‘Enemies of the State’ must also change.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment