SUKHAI THAKUR Vs. UOI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) VIDE the instant petition, the petitioner has sought issuance of writ of mandamus to direct the respondents to grant the SSS Pension to the petitioner from the date of application i.e. 15.09.1981 and to quash the impugned rejection letter dated 14.12.2007.

(2.) IT is further prayed that respondent No. 1 be directed to take the appropriate action against the erring officer who has exercised the power malafidely and beyond the Benovent Scheme despite the several orders from the Apex court and also by various High Courts.

(3.) IT also defines the terms Primary evidence and Secondary evidence, which reads as follows:- Primary evidence : Documentary evidence by way of Court's/Government's orders proclaiming the applicant as an absconder, announcing an award on his head or for his arrest or ordering his detention. According to SSS Pension Scheme, 1980, absconsion on issue of warrant of arrest is not an eligible suffering for grant of SSS pension, unless the same is followed by the order of proclaimed offender/or award for arrest on head or detention order. Secondary evidence: In the absence of primary record-based evidence, a Non-availability of Records Certificate (NARC) from the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration along with a Personal Knowledge Certificate (PKC) from a prominent freedom fighter who has proven jail suffering minimum of two years and who happened to be from the same administrative District can be submitted as supporting evidence to the claim. Where records of the relevant period are not available, Non- availability of Records Certificate (NARC) from the concerned authority is a mandatory pre-requisite for secondary evidence. The NARC should not be general or vague, but should conform to the instructions, inter-alia, require the State Governments to issue on NARC, only after due verification from all sources. The NARC is treated valid only when it is furnished by the State Government in the following manner:-