Mumbai. The Bombay High Court on Friday expressed displeasure with the state government for failing to take a decision on granting benefits under the Maharashtra government’s policy for ex-servicemen to the wife of an Army Major martyred in Jammu and Kashmir. A division bench of Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh Pooniwala said it was ‘displeased’ and ‘surprised’ by the government’s stand despite the court ordering the Chief Minister to treat the matter as a ‘special case’.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Aakriti Sood, wife of late Major Anuj Sood, seeking (monetary) benefits for ex-servicemen under two government resolutions of 2019 and 2020. Major Sood was martyred while rescuing civilian hostages from terrorist hideouts in Jammu and Kashmir on May 2, 2020, and was posthumously awarded the Shaurya Chakra.
The state government has argued that only people born in Maharashtra or residing in the state continuously for 15 years are eligible for monetary benefits and allowances. On Friday, government counsel P P Kakade informed the bench that the benefit could not be given to Sood as he was not ‘domiciled’ in the state. Kakade said that we need to take a proper policy decision for which we need to approach the Cabinet. The cabinet meeting is not happening right now.
However, the bench expressed displeasure over this and said that every time some reason or the other is given for not taking the decision. The court said, ‘You (government) are dealing with such a case…someone has sacrificed his life for the country and you are doing this. We are not happy.
The bench said that it had directed the highest authority of the state (Chief Minister) to consider the matter as a special case and take an appropriate decision. Justice Kulkarni said that we had requested the Chief Minister to take a decision. He should have taken a decision. If he can’t make a decision or it was too inappropriate for him to make a decision, let us know, we’ll deal with it. He said that now you cannot run away (from responsibility). Now you are saying that the cabinet will have to see. The cabinet meeting is not taking place. This is not right. We expected much better from the government.
The court said in its order that the government has orally said that Sood cannot be given benefits under the privilege policy. The bench said that we are quite surprised by this stance. We had asked the highest authority of the state to take a decision. If the Chief Minister is unable to take a decision then the state government should file an affidavit. It directed the government to file an affidavit by April 17 and said it will deal with the issue accordingly. The petitioner has argued that the family has been living in Maharashtra for the last 15 years, as per the wish of her late husband, who always wanted to live in Pune.
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Tags: Bombay high court, Maharashtra news
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 12, 2024, 19:08 IST