ANUSAYABAI KHANDERAO SURE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Counsel for the respondent.

(2.) The Petitioner is the widow of a freedom fighter by the name Khanderao Sure. The case made out in the petition is that the petitioner's husband actively participated in the Bharatnagar Satyagraha in the 1939 in old Hyderabad State and was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 11 months under Sections 122 and 164 of the Taziral by Nazim Sahib Adalth, Patihan on 7th May 1939. The certificate of imprisonment annexed to the petition shows that the petitioner's husband was detained in the Aurangabad Central Prison from 8th May 1939 and was released on 10th August 1939 on the basis of an order of the Government. Prayers were made initially by the petitioner's husband and thereafter by the petitioner for grant of pension under the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, 1980 (for short "the said scheme"). On 15th June 2001, an order was passed holding that the petitioner's husband was disentitled to benefit of the said scheme as the condition of suffering actual imprisonment of six months was not complied with.

(3.) We have carefully considered the submissions. As far as the eligibility of freedom fighters to receive the benefit of the said scheme is concerned, there is no dispute. Clause (a) of paragraph 4 of the scheme defines a "freedom fighter" to be a person who has suffered minimum imprisonment of six months in the mainland jail before independence. We must note here that in the amended scheme which is annexed to the reply, identical eligibility has been prescribed in Clause 2.2 thereof. Thus, on a plain reading of the eligibility condition, a person is entitled to the benefit of the scheme provided he had actually suffered minimum imprisonment of six months on account of participation in freedom struggle. Relevant clause does not merely provide that a person has to be convicted to suffer imprisonment of a period of minimum six months. The emphasis seems to be on the person concerned actually undergoing imprisonment for a minimum period of six months.