13 years after death of INA veteran, Kerala High Court orders State to reconsider his freedom fighter pension plea

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the State Government to re-consider the pension application of an Indian National Army (INA) veteran who has filed the plea in 2008 and had subsequently passed away [Edadan Chindan Nair v Union of India]..Justice Murali Purushothaman, while setting aside the Kerala government's decision to not recommend a freedom fighter's claim under the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension (SSSP) Scheme, observed that the stories of many heroes of the freedom struggle remain unsung. "As a token of samman (respect) for the great contributions and sacrifices of the freedom fighters, who had given the best part of their life for the Country, the Central Government had launched a pension scheme called ‘Swathantra Sainik Samman Pension Scheme’. We remember and honour the freedom fighters who fought for the independence of the Country. But, there are many unsung heroes of freedom struggle whose names and contributions we have not even heard of," the Court said..In 2008, a then ninety four year old Edadan Chindan Nair approached the Court challenging the Kerala government's decision to not recommend him for the Central Government's SSSP. However, just a year later, in May 2009, the nonagenarian passed away.When the matter came up for consideration in August 2021, the Court impleaded his widow and sons as additional petitioners..We remember and honour the freedom fighters who fought for the independence of the Country. But, there are many unsung heroes of freedom struggle whose names and contributions we have not even heard of.Kerala High Court.In his plea, Nair claimed that he had served the INA, led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose from April 1943 when he joined as a Sepoy in the 4th Guerrilla Regiment III.He produced certificates issued by the All India INA Committee, as well as news reports regarding his association with INA and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as proof.He also submitted an order from 1975 which showed that he had been granted Kerala Freedom Fighters' Pension (KFFP) by the Government of Kerala..However, Nair's application for SSSP was rejected by the Kerala Government on the following grounds:only persons who had been imprisoned for at least 6 months are eligible for SSSP and in the absence of jail records, Nair's claim is only of 3 months;the criteria for grant of KFF Pension and SSS Pension are different; the eligibility to KFF Pension does not ipso facto make one eligible for SSS Pension; andthe application was not accompanied by required documents..The Court noted that after his demise, several news articles were published regarding Nair which aligned with his claims, some news articles even reporting that he had been Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's driver in Rangoon. Further, one of the eligibility criteria for pension under the SSSP Scheme is that a freedom fighter must have suffered a minimum imprisonment of six months in the mainland jails before independence. However, ex–INA personnel will be eligible for pension if the imprisonment/ detention suffered by them was outside India. From the application submitted by the petitioner to the Kerala government, the Court saw that he had claimed to have been detained in Rangoon Central Jail for 6 months in 1945. Rangoon is now Yangon, Myanmar. The Court opined that Nair's application was rejected mechanically, without any application of mind and disregarding the object of the SSSP Scheme going by the judgment of the Supreme Court in Gurdial Singh v Union of India."The 2nd respondent (Kerala Government) has refused to recommend the application of Sri.Edadan Chindan Nair for reasons which are incorrect and hyper technical," the Court said.Therefore, it set aside the previous order of the State government and directed to take a fresh decision on the application within a period of four months..[Read Judgment]