The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Thursday directed the State government to grant the Maruthu Pandiyar Brothers Descendants Pension to three women descendants of the freedom fighters and observed that the discrimination against the women descendents was totally unjustifiable.
The court was hearing the petitions filed by V. Kanaga, C. Maragatham and K. Rajeswari who sought the pension. They challenged the Ramanathapuram Collector’s decision to turn down their request for pension under the scheme in 2017. They sought to quash the order of the Collector and sanction the pension.
Justice R. Suresh Kumar observed that the State government in 1980 came forward to recognise the role played by the Maruthu Pandiyar brothers in the freedom struggle and as a token of respect provided the Freedom Fighters Political Pension to the descendants of the brothers, taking into account that a number of them were struggling financially.
A committee was constituted and 202 people were identified as descendants of the brothers in 1982. Accordingly, the pension at the rate of ₹ 150 per month was sanctioned to all the 202 descendants. However, some of the women descendants were either not considered or included in the list.
The court took into account that two such women Kalyani and Kasthuri Kannan had to approach the court for relief similar to the case of the three women in the present case. These two are none other than the first cousins of the present petitioners, all descendants of the Maruthu Pandiyar brothers, the court observed.
The judge observed that apart from the 202 descendants, if anyone was left out, it is for the government to identify and recognise those descendants because it was not the monetary criteria that had driven the petitioners to the court, but the status and honour that they would enjoy based on such recognition by the government.
When we recollect the freedom struggle, both male and female warriors have made equal contribution to the cause of the motherland, the judge said pointing out to the contribution of freedom fighter Velu Nachiyar to the freedom struggle. The judge observed that the discrimination against women was unjustifiable and set aside the Collector’s order.
The court directed that a government order be passed in recognising the three sisters as the descendants of the Maruthu Pandiyar brothers and the pension be sanctioned to them. The government order shall be passed within a period of eight weeks for the continuous disbursement of the pension to the three petitioners throughout their lifetime, the court said.