V N GOVINDARAJAN Vs. GOVT OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has prayed for issue of a writ to quash letter No. 129/690/86 FFSZ dated 26-6-1989 and direct the respondent to sanction Swatantrata Sainik Saman Pension to the petitioner with effect from 30-5-1985, the date of application with arrears together with cost.

(2.) The petitioner filed an application on 30-5-1985 for grant of Swatantrata Sainik Saman Pension. That was rejected by the respondent by letter dated 4-8-1986 in No. 129/690/86 FF S2. The petitioner made a further representation through his Advocate Mr. A. Rangarajan on 10-4-1989. The matter was again considered by the respondent and reply was sent under letter No. 129/690/86 FF S2 dated 26-6-1989, reiterating the stand taken earlier and rejecting the claim of the petitioner. It is the latter communication which is sought to be quashed in the writ petition. There is no prayer in the writ petition to quash the earlier communication by which the petitioner's application was rejected on 4-8-1986.

(3.) The ground on which the application was rejected was that it was time barred. Under the scheme, the last date for submitting applications for pension was 31-3-1982. That itself was only after several extentions of the original date fixed earlier. The petitioner's contention is that he had set an application earlier on 5-2-1982. In his application dated 30-5-1985, he made a reference to the said application dated 5-2-1982. He also made a reference to the Government of India reply No. 129/769/91 dated 18-5-1984. The respondent found that the reference to the Government of India reply does not relate to the petitioner and it relates to another freedom fighter. They were able to trace the file and found out that the reference given by the petitioner was wrong. The respondent found that there was no application of the petitioner on 5-2-1982 with them. Only after considering the entire matter, the respondent sent a reply that the petitioner's application was time barred and rejected the same.