World
War Veteran
More than 3 decades ago, I
had an opportunity to deal with the case of a world war veteran. One of my
colleagues brought the case to me. It was a 4 decade old case of an Army Jawan
who participated in the world war. He did not get pension after retirement. To
make matters worse, several portions of his service records were
damaged/destroyed during heavy rain and flash floods which devastated his
thatched house in a remote village. He had written hundreds of letters to various
authorities up to the level of Chief of Army Staff. In some replies he was asked to produce copy
of some documents which he was unable to produce. Thus the case was struck up.
After going through the
volumes of available records- mainly correspondence- I was not very hopeful primarily
due to being a very old case and secondly due to non availability of many
documents. However, the fighting spirit of the old man inspired me and I prayed
the almighty to give me sufficient strength to fight the case. Initially I
thought of approaching my friend, philosopher, mentor, motivator and Guide, the
legendary legal luminary Shri. Nani A. Palkhivala with whom I was in touch
through correspondence. But then I realized that one should approach others
only after taking recourse to all the avenues available.
I drafted a letter addressed
to the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi by name. The letter was to my full
satisfaction which was very emotional and sentimental. My colleague signed the
letter himself (fake signature for a right cause) and posted in Delhi at her
residential address. To my great
surprise, reply received within 15 days signed by Prime Minister herself with
an assurance that the case will be settled within 3 months. Another letter came
from PM’s office after 2 months intimating that pension case has been settled. Within
2 weeks time he got pension arrears and started getting regular pension from
the subsequent month.
That was one of the most
memorable and happy moments of my life. I don’t normally believe in miracles,
but what happened was next to miracle only.
I had a plan to meet the octogenarian Ex Army man who valiantly fought
for the country, during my next visit to Kerala to pay my obeisance but before
I could accomplish my dream he left for his heavenly abode.
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