Punjab & Haryana High Court grants enhanced pension to widow of 1965 Indo-Pak war martyr

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently granted enhanced pension under the 'Liberalized Family Pension scheme' to the widow of an Indian army soldier who had died in the 1965 India-Pakistan war while defending a forward location in battle [Anguri Devi v. Union of India and Others]. .The widowed woman, Anguri Devi, had moved the Court challenging an order passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), which had restricted the benefit of arrears of a Central government pension scheme granted to her to only three years from the date of her application. The AFT in its order had reasoned,"Since the applicant has come to the court/Tribunal after a lapse of about 54 years of his discharge so the arrears are restricted to three years prior to the date of filing of this O.A., that is, 30.10.2017.” .However, a Bench of Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Sudeepti Sharma set aside the AFT's order and held that under the Central government's Liberalized Family Pension scheme, which took effect on January 31, 2001, the petitioner is entitled to the benefits of the scheme from that date.The Court observed that the said Central government policy conferred an indefeasible right on the widow of a deceased soldier which was also recurring and continuous in nature. Hence, a delay on her part in applying for such a benefit does not incapacitate her from becoming a valid recipient of the same. "Since the said policy conferred the supra indefeasible right, whereupon, the said conferred indefeasible right visa-vis the widow of the deceased soldier, but was also a recurring and continuous cause of action, irrespective of delay, if any, to activate the said recurring cause of action. Consequently, the further effect thereof, is that, even if there is some delay on the part of the widow of the deceased soldier to make the instant espousal, yet the said delay was not required to be incapacitating the present petitioner to become a valid recipient of a recurring and continuous right, as otherwise became conferred upon her through policy," the Court said in its November 29 order. .Devi's husband was a soldier of the Indian army who had died in the 1965 war in a battle while defending a forward location. After the martyrdom of her husband, she was granted the benefit of pension on December 13, 1965, under a Central government scheme called 'Special Family Pension'.On January 31, 2001, the government of India launched another policy called 'Liberalized Family Pension' that granted enhanced death/disability benefits to the family members of deceased army soldiers who had been martyred due to operational deaths such as mine blasts.Subsequently, Devi filed an application before the AFT for grant of the benefit of enhanced pension under the 2001 scheme, which was allowed to her. However, the AFT, while granting her the benefit of arrears under the said scheme, restricted it to a period of three years. It reasoned that Devi had applied for the benefit under the said scheme after a lapse of around 54 years. She then approached the High Court by filing a writ petition..The High Court disagreed with the AFT's decision and held that the benefit of enhanced pension under the 'Liberalized Family Pension' scheme remains unaffected due to delay in applying for the same.Thus, it set-aside the AFT's order and allowed Devi's plea. .Advocates Navdeep Singh, Roopan Atwal and Srishti Sharma appeared for Anguri Devi.Senior Counsel Anita Chawla represented the Union of India. .[Read Order]