The Madras High Court Bench here has quashed a March 7, 2011 Government Order, refusing ‘Tamil Ellai Por Thiyagigal’ pension to a 74-year-old who took part in agitations to create Kanyakumari district by bifurcating Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala, and got imprisoned for three months when he was 14 in 1954.
Allowing a petition by the septuagenarian in 2011, Justice R. Mahadevan criticised officials for rejecting such a plea on technical grounds and directed the Secretary of the Tamil Development and Cultural and Religious Endowments Department to consider, within four weeks, grant of pension to the petitioner.
“Once it is evident on the basis of the materials on record that the pension claimant had suffered incarceration for the cause of the State, a presumption has to be drawn in his favour,” he said.
