- (1.) The writ petitioner, being the widow of a freedom fighter, has approached this Court by way of a writ petition as her claim for obtaining freedom fighter's pension on the basis of the Swatantra Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, 1980 was rejected by an Under Secretary to the Government of India, annexure 'P-7' to the writ petition at page 45 thereof.
(2.) After considering the impugned order of the Under Secretary, it appears that the Under Secretary after setting out some facts, in absolute mechanical exercise of his authority rejected the claim of the writ petitioner for the following reasons : "(1) In the absence of non-availability of record certificate, to the satisfaction of the Government, the secondary evidence like Personal Knowledge Certificate produced by him from Shri S.K. Dhara on the basis of which his case was recommended by the State Government cannot be considered as per provisions of the scheme for grant of pension. (2) Official records are available and you have not been able to produce any evidence from such records in support of your husband's claimed suffering of abscondence. (3) The State Government has forwarded a report from DM, Midnapore which does not conform your claimed suffering of abscondence. (4) The Government of India is, however, still prepared to reconsider your case, if you can produce evidence from official records in support of your claimed suffering and a certificate from the State Government indicating that the records produced is genuine, relates to you and the suffering was in connection with the freedom struggle. (5) This issues with the approval of the competent authority."
(3.) From a plain reading of the so called reasons set out above a person with reasonable and rational approach cannot have any doubt that the exercise of power was not only extremely mechanical but in passing the order the Under Secretary had taken into account most irrelevant factors leaving out the most relevant considerations in the first place.;