Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) The Delhi High Court has dismissed the plea of an armyman’s widow seeking direction to the defence ministry to grant her ex-gratia relief for her husband’s death while he was posted on the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan in 1999.

Rejecting Manju Tiwari’s petition, a bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Sunil Gaur said that family members of defence personnel were entitled to ex-gratia only if they died in war or border skirmishes.

She said her husband died Aug 11, 1999 after suffering cardiac failure on duty.
“Since he died in service, the army should sanction Rs.7.5 lakh as ex-gratia to me,” said her petition.

Pointing to the government’s Sep 22, 1998, circular on ex-gratia payment for army personnel, the bench said, in its order passed Aug 25, that compensation was allowed only in cases of death during war.

“The circular relating to grant of ex-gratia compensation uses the expression death occurring during enemy action in international war or border skirmishes,” the court said.

“In other words, ex-gratia envisages death, not in a war-like situation, but in actual war during enemy action or border skirmishes,” said the bench.

“An ex-gratia is to be paid for valour that is death in the battlefield and not in an operational area in a war-like situation,” the bench observed, while upholding the findings of the Armed Forces Tribunal which dismissed her plea earlier.

“The tribunal has rightly opined. Indeed, the fact which is not in dispute is that though India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan was declared an operational area, there was no enemy action by way of war or even a border skirmish in the said area when husband of the petitioner died,” the bench said.

Tiwari said in her petition that her husband was deployed on the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan in May 1999 when the Kargil war broke out in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Though the war was fought on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, the army units deployed on the border in Rajasthan were on high alert. While on duty, my husband suffered cardiac failure at 3.25 a.m. Aug 11, 1999, and died,” the petition said.