The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to present before it proof of depositing ₹29 lakh in the account of martyr Lance Naik Md. Feroz Khan’s wife.
A Bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy said that it was glad over the government swiftly responding to the direction to pay the ex gratia to the martyr’s family. When the hearing of the PIL plea seeking justice to the martyr’s family began, Government Pleader A. Santosh Kumar attached to Advocate General office told the Bench that ₹29,76,750 had been deposited in the account of late Khan’s wife. During the previous hearing, the Bench sought to know the reasons behind the inordinate delay in payment of the ex gratia. Mr. Feroz Khan died in 2013 in Poonch district of J&K.
However, the amount did not reach the slain soldier’s family. A law student Pavan Kasthuri wrote a letter to the HC on the plight of the soldier’s wife who had to look after three children and had to make rounds of government offices. The letter was taken up as PIL petition. The petition was posted to August 19 for next hearing.
