SITARAM MANAV DANGI Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner who is 88 years of age and whose claim for grant of 'Samman Nidhi' under a scheme formulated by the State Govt. having been rejected, has filed this writ petition and this is the 3rd round of litigation in the matter.

(2.) Petitioner's claim is that he is a freedom fighter, had participated in the freedom movement in the then existing State of Orchha now in the district of Tikamgarh. He was declared as an 'Offender' by the Police of Orchha state. He remained underground and, thereafter, was confined to jail in Jhansi from 1st January, 1942 to 17th July, 1942 i.e. for a period of 6 months and 19 days. Along with him, one Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak also underwent the same imprisonment and another person namely Shri Shyamlal Sahu was also imprisoned along with the petitioner. Contending that Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak and Shri Shyamlal Sahu has been granted Samman Nidhi and the same benefit is denied to the petitioner, he submitted representations and when all these representations were rejected, he approached this Court for the first time in the year 2008 by filing W. P. No. 11708/08. The matter was heard by a Division Bench of this Court and it was found by this Court that petitioner is claiming the Samman Nidhi based on the benefit granted to Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak and Shri Shyamlal Sahu and the certificates issued by them with regard to confinement of the petitioner but as no document or certificate attested by Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak and Shri Shyamlal Sahu is filed, the writ petition was disposed of with a direction to the petitioner to submit a representation again along with the certificates and documents that are issued by Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak and Shri Shyamlal Sahu and the State Govt. was directed to decide the matter within two months. When nothing was done, contempt proceedings were initiated as the representations and documents filed by the petitioner does not fulfil the required consideration and ultimately when the matter is rejected for the second time vide order Annexure P-1 dated 27/05/11, petitioner is again before this Court challenging the impugned action.

(3.) It is pointed out by Shri Vinay Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner that along with the representations submitted in pursuance to the order passed in W. P. No. 11708/08 Annexure P-5, petitioner submitted various documents which included his certificates issued to him by Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak and Shri Shyamlal Sahu and various other documents to show that petitioner is a freedom fighter and has undergone the confinement for the period as indicated hereinabove, inspite thereof, only on the ground that petitioner has not produced any documents from the Jail Authorities showing his imprisonment or confinement, the application is rejected.