Govt of India Implements
Landmark Orders of
Gujarat High Court in
PIL filed by the
Late Lt General Jagjit Singh Aurora
It was on 23 December 2011 that the
Hon’ble Gujarat High Court rendered a landmark judgement in a Writ Petition
filed by the late Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora and others in the year 1999.
Besides other reliefs that were
sought, the case was filed by the late General praying that the Govt may be
directed to treat all missing Prisoners of War (POWs) as “on duty” for all
intents and purposes till their date of retirement. It was also prayed that the
Union of India be directed to take up the issue of the missing personnel with
the International Human Rights Committee.
The High Court, through a very
detailed and extensive order, which at places recorded bone chilling details on
the subject alongwith all related evidence on the matter, directed the Union of
India to approach the International Court of Justice in this regard and also to
pay all retirement and service benefits to the kin of the missing personnel as
if they had retired on superannuation.
The detailed judgement on the writ
petition which was ordered to be treated as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL),
not only traced the entire length and breadth of the issue but also dealt with
accounts of individual cases.
The Ministry of Defence, though has
challenged before the Supreme Court the part of the order which dealt with
directions to the Govt to take up the case with the ICJ, has however
implemented the other part which dealt with treating the missing personnel on
duty and releasing benefits to the kin as if they (the missing personnel)
remained on duty till their respective dates of retirement.
The Defence Ministry has already
forwarded the order for implementation to the Services HQ who in turn have
asked the respective Record Offices to immediately take requisite steps.
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by the kind courtesy of Veteran Col RP Chaturvedi,rpchaturvedi@gmail.com
Thanks for sharing the information..Nice Post..i enjoyed reading it.
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