IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 26640 of 2006 Between: Pamula Sangaiah, s/o Kotaiah, r/o Chilukuru Village, Madhira Mandal, Khammam District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of India, represented by the Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Freedom Fighter's Division (HC) Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi. 2 Under Secretary to Government of India, Bharat Sarkar Ministry of Home Affairs/Freedom Fighter's Division (HC) Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring impugned orders of the 2nd respondent dated 13-11-2006 in suspending the Central Sanman Pension being drawn by the petitioner which was sanctioned by the 1st respondent vide proceedings No.112/1290/84-(HC) dated 14-08-1985 on untenable grounds, as illegal, arbitrary and violating of Article 14, 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently set aside the above stated impugned order of the 2nd respondent with a further direction to respondents to pay and continue to the pay pension to the petitioner and to pass suchother order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.K.RATHANGA PANI REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.A.RAJASHEKAR REDDY (ASST SOLICITOR GEN) The Court made the following : ORDER: Petitioner Pamula Sangaiah is a pensioner under Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, 1980 vide proceedings No.112/1290/84-FF(HC), dated 14.08.1985. He is stated to have issued a certiﬁcate in favour of one Muvva Koteswara Rao as Person In-charge of Chilukuru Border Camp. With regard to the entitlement of Muvva Koteswara Rao, an enquiry was conducted by the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Madhira. The enquiry conducted by the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Madhira, revealed that the participation of Muvva Koteswara Rao in Hyderabad Liberation Movement became doubtful as his age was shown as 40 years in the voters list of the year 1995. The report reveals that Muvva Koteswara Rao was not even born at the time of the freedom struggle during the year 1947-48. Therefore, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, has recommended to cancel the pension granted to Muvva Koteswara Rao. Since the petitioner issued a certiﬁcate as Camp In-charge of Chilukuru, pension granted to him also came to be kept under suspension pending further enquiry and a show-cause notice was also issued to him under proceedings dated 13.11.2006. The proceedings, whereunder the pension of the petitioner kept under suspension, are under challenge in this writ petition. For better understanding of the grievance of the petitioner, I deem it appropriate to refer para.8 of the writ aﬃdavit, which reads as hereunder: “In the circumstances stated above, the petitioner prays that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring impugned orders of the 2nd respondent dated 13.11.2006 in suspending the Central Sanman Pension being drawn by the petitioner which was sanctioned by the 1st respondent vide proceedings No.112/1290/84-FF(HC), dated 14.08.1985 on untenable grounds as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14, 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently set aside the above stated impugned order of the 2nd respondent with a further direction to respondents to pay and continue to pay the pension to the petitioner and to pass such other order or orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case.” 2. Rule Nisi came to be issued on 22.12.2006. An interim suspension of the order impugned in the writ petition came to be ordered on the even date for a period of four weeks vide WPMP No.34229 of 2006 and subsequently, the said order came to be not extended. Thereupon, the petitioner carried the matter in appeal being Writ Appeal No.255 of 2007. The Writ Appeal came to be disposed of and the relevant portion of the order passed in the writ appeal reads as hereunder: “After hearing the parties, the learned Single Judge declined to continue the interim order on the premise that the appellant is accused of having issued false certificate to Muvva Koteswara Rao. We have heard Shri K.Rathanga Pani Reddy, learned counsel for the appellant and Shri A.Rajashekar Reddy, learned Assistant Solicitor General and are of the opinion that the order under challenge does not suﬀer from any error of law apparent on the face of the record warranting interference under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent. At this stage, we do not want to express any opinion on the merits of the decision of the Government of India, but are convinced that the reason assigned by the government of India for suspending the payment of pension to the appellant does not suffer from patent legal infirmity. With the above observation, the appeal is dismissed. However, keeping in view the age of the appellant, we direct the respondents to complete the enquiry within two months and place the result of the enquiry before the learned Single Judge for consideration and appropriate order. As a sequel to dismissal of the appeal, WAMP No.479 of 2007 filed by the appellant for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous.” 3. Initially, the Writ Petition was ﬁled against the respondents 1 and 2. Thereafter, the Government of Andhra Pradesh represented by its Secretary, Revenue (FF-II) Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad came to be impleaded as 3rd respondent in the writ petition as per orders in WPMP No.30036 of 2008. 4. Respondents 1 and 2 ﬁled counter-aﬃdavit. S.D.Kaushik, Under Secretary in the Ministry of Home Aﬀairs, New Delhi, has sworn to the counter-aﬃdavit. It is stated in the counter- aﬃdavit that the pension granted to the petitioner came to be suspended pending enquiry. The explanation given by the petitioner came to be forwarded to the Government of Andhra Pradesh on 11.01.2007 for further enquiry and comments and that a ﬁnal decision with regard to cancellation of the pension granted to the petitioner will be taken on receipt of the State Government’s comments. 5. Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and learned Asst. Solicitor General appearing for the respondents 1 and 2 and learned Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for the 3rd respondent. 6. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is aged 80 years and keeping the pension granted to him under suspension amounts to taking away his source of livelihood at the fag end of his life. A further submission has been made that the petitioner was not the In-Charge of Chilukuru Border Camp and in which case question of issuing certificate in favour of Muvva Koteswara Rao does not arise. 7. Learned Assistant Solicitor General appearing for the respondents 1 and 2 submits that the explanation submitted by the petitioner has been sent to the State Government for further enquiry and comments and as and when the State Government sends comments, the respondents 1 and 2 will take ﬁnal decision. 8. A fact remains that the petitioner has submitted his explanation to the show-cause notice and the explanation came to be forwarded to the State Government on 11.01.2007 for further enquiry and comments. Such is the situation, I deem it appropriate to dispose of the writ petition directing the 3rd respondent to submit their comments as called for by the respondents 1 and 2 within two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this Order. The respondents 1 and 2 shall pass appropriate orders within three weeks thereafter. 9. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. ______________________ B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J. Date:04th November, 2008. Note: Issue C.C. within two days. B/o cs ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{RS}