INDU BHUSAN JANA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE writ petitioner is in appeal complaining of being a third time unlucky in securing the pension that he claims to be is due as a freedom fighter. The appeal poses no real challenge once a fundamental legal principle is recognised, but it is another matter of some importance that the matter throws up.

(2.) THE appellant asserts that he is entitled to partake of the benefits declared for freedom fighters by the Central Government under, a scheme floated in the year 1980. The appellant hails from the district of midnapore which produced its fair share of freedom fighters. The appellant claims that he went underground upon being sought by the British rulers for participating in the Quit india Movement. The appellant has relied on a certificate issued by the District Magistrate, midnapore that relevant records relating to issue of warrants proclamations and prosecutions during the period 1930 to 1946 were not available. The appellant applied in August, 1981 stating that he had actively participated in the 1942 movement and remained underground for more than a year. He said that he absconded under the instructions of his immediate leaders and continued work while he remained underground.

(3.) IN the absence of relevant records, the appellant relied on a certificate of suffering by abscondence in the printed Government format signed by one Tarapada chakraborty as a prominent freedom fighter. Chakraborry certified that the appellant had remained underground for more than six months till or about September, 1944. The appellant's application languished before the advisory Committee and the State Government for nearly a decade before it was recommended by the State to the Central Government.