After having fought to free the country from British rule, he had no idea that another battle was in store. Satish Chandra Mishra, now 90, had to run from pillar to post for his pension since 1981.
After having fought to free the country from British rule, he had no idea that another battle was in store. Satish Chandra Mishra, now 90, had to run from pillar to post for his pension since 1981 — which he is finally getting thanks to the Delhi high court that pulled up the government for its apathy towards freedom fighters.
Justice Kailash Gambhir, in his order passed last week, said: “Today, as we freely move around in our country without anyone imposing any restriction on us, we feel satisfied. But this satisfaction is due to the efforts made by our freedom fighters. It is because of them that today we are enjoying our freedom.”
Mishra participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942. His application for claiming Swatantrata Sainik Pension (SSP) was declined by the government on grounds that he could not produce sufficient records to establish he was a freedom fighter.
Pulling up the government for its attitude towards freedom fighters, the court said: “Free India is a gift to each one of us from these freedom fighters. To pay our gratitude, the government started the SSP scheme. But cases like the present one show the apathy of our government.”
“The government should not deal with such matters in an arbitrary way. Aged, eligible freedom fighters should not be made to run from pillar to post for pension. The government should be a little more considerate while dealing with such cases,” the bench said while asking the government to pay Mishra his pension from 1981 onwards.
Counsel for the petitioner said: “The freedom fighter scheme was introduced by the government of India in 1972 in which the normal eligibility fixed for grant of pension was six months’ imprisonment while participating in the freedom movement. The SSP scheme also provided for those freedom fighters who absconded due to registration of a criminal case.”
“My client (petitioner) did not mention the criminal case number as at the time of filing the application he could not recollect it. However, after remembering it, the government rejected his plea on the same grounds.”
Central government counsel contended his application was rejected since Mishra did not file the necessary documents to claim his pension. Turning down the submission of the government counsel that the petitioner took more than 13 years to support his claim, the court said: “It is a matter of common knowledge that those persons who participated in the freedom struggle have now grown old; the present petitioner, who participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942 is of 90 years of age. We cannot expect such persons to remember everything.”
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