Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) The Supreme Court has recalled its November 2010 order in which it directed the defence ministry to form a commission to probe the grievances of retired soldiers, an official said Monday.

The apex court passed the order while hearing the petition of an army major’s widow who claimed that she was getting a meagre pension of Rs.80 per month since her husband’s death in 1967.

The court decided to recall the order as her claim on the pension was later found to be incorrect. The government also told the court that a mechanism for looking after the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families was already in place.

Hinting at the discontent among serving and former members of the armed forces and their family members regarding their pension, the court last year directed the government to set up an armed forces grievances redressal commission to look into the problems of serving and retired soldiers and their families.

The department of ex-servicemen welfare verified the facts of the case and found that the widow, Pushpavanti, had not presented all the facts before court.

“Pushpavanti is actually drawing a family pension of Rs.16,360 and not Rs.80 as incorrectly represented before the apex court,” the defence ministry official said in a press release here.

“The factual position was brought before the Supreme Court on July 5 by the department of ex-servicemen welfare through the solicitor general of India, who submitted that for looking after the welfare and re-settlement of ex-servicemen a comprehensive mechanism is already in place,” the release said.

“Following this, the court recalled its order given Nov 15, 2010,” the official said.