Pay pension to nonagenarian freedom fighter Gundu Rao Desai: Karnataka HC

The High Court has directed the state government to sanction within a period of six weeks the freedom fighters’ pension to Gundu Rao Desai, a nonagenarian freedom fighter from Ballari district.

Justice Krishna S Dixit said that a ritualistic adherence to the black letter of law should not hijack justice.

The petition was filed by 94-year old Gundu Rao Desai from Kamalapura in Ballari district.

His pension was withheld for over two decades as he could produce the affidavit of only one co-detenue, whereas the authorities insisted upon affidavits of two co-detenues, as mandated under the scheme.

The court noted that the petitioner had specifically stated reasons for submitting affidavit of one co-detenue in his letter dated January 20, 2021, saying only one of the co-detenues was alive.

“That being the position, asking him to produce the affidavits of two co-detenues, virtually amounts to compelling him to retrieve the dead from their grave, infuse soul into their body and ask them to swear to the affidavit; this is an impossibility, at least with all the progress the medical science has till now achieved,” the court said.

The authorities have been directed to sanction the pension with retrospective effect from March 19, 1998, the date of the petitioner’s claim, and settle all the arrears within a period of six weeks.

The court added that in case of failure, the additional chief secretary, deputy commissioner of Ballari and assistant commissioner of Hosapete should personally and collectively pay the petitioner Rs 1,000 for each day’s delay.

This amount, after payment, may be recovered from the erring officials in accordance with law, the court said.

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