Legally Wedded Wife Was Deprived Of Pension After Demise Of Her Husband For 25 Years: Bombay HC Directs Release Of Freedom Fighter Pension

Referring to the decision in the case of Smt. Kasabai W/o Shamrao Shingare V/s. The Union of India and others [Writ Petition No.1265/2018] and finding that the documents i.e., the original Pension Payment Order (PPO) issued in favour of the wife of the deceased freedom fighter has been misplaced by the authorities themselves, the Bombay High Court directed the Respondents to release the pension to the Petitioner from June 17, 2018.

The Division Bench of Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Y.G Khobragade observed that “The Petitioner is 86 years of age today and though she is a legally wedded wife, she received no pension after the demise of her husband on 12.06.1993 till 17.06.2018 (25 years), only because the second wife-Rukhminibai was paid the pension after the demise of Bhagwanrao. Now it is just a matter of continuation of the pension to the present Petitioner”.

Advocate Nagargoje Ankush Nivrutti appeared for the Petitioner, whereas Advocate P.K. Lakhotiya appeared for the Respondent.

The brief facts of the case were that the husband of the present Petitioner namely Bhagwanrao Sukhdeo Ajbe was a Freedom Fighter, who was receiving the pension regularly since 1977 from the State Government and receiving freedom fighter's pension from the Central Government. Before he passed away, he had nominated a lady by the name of Rukhminibai in the capacity of she being his wife, due to which Rukhminibai was receiving the freedom fighter's pension until her demise in 2018. The present Petitioner that is Somitrabai who claims to be the first wife of Bhagwanrao, sought such declaration from the civil court before the demise of Rukminibai, which was decreed in favour of Petitioner. Yet, Rukhminibai was receiving a pension until her death. The grievance of the Petitioner arose after the death of Rukhminibai since the payment of the freedom fighter's pension was stopped by the State Government as well as the Central Government since it was informed that Rukhminibai has passed away. Since the original PPO required for sanctioning the Central Government as well as the State Government pension was lost and not received by the State Bank of India, Centralised Pension Processing Centre (CPPC), the grandson of the deceased-Bhagwanrao addressed the Under Secretary, Freedom Fighter Rehabilitation Division (FFRD), New Delhi. After continuous representation and correspondence between the grandson and the authorities, the Petitioner approached the High Court.

After considering the submission, the Bench noted that as Rukhminibai has already passed away, it would be impossible to issue any direction for recovery of the pension paid to her and more so because of the judgment of the Civil Court was delivered in 2016 which was followed by an appeal filed by Rukhminibai which was finally dismissed as abated.

The Bench found that the immediate worry of the Petitioner is the commencement of the pension from the date on which Rukminibai passed away since, by that time, the Civil Court had already delivered its judgment holding that the Petitioner is the legally wedded wife.

Stating that the Ministry of Home Affairs cannot be expected to spend any further time in searching for the Pension Payment Order (PPO), the Bench directed all the Respondents to act upon the certified copy of the PPO which is available with the State Bank of India.

The Bench also directed the State Bank of India to submit the certified PPO with a covering letter, by preparing certified copies at its end to the District Collector as well as to the CPPC and the FFRD, within 21 days.

Cause Title: Somitrabai v. Union of India and Ors.

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