Madurai
Bringing relief to a nonagenarian, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the Centre to grant freedom fighter’s pension to R. Ramalingam, who took part in the Quit India Movement.
A Division Bench of Justices K. Ravichandrabaabu and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy dismissed the appeal preferred by the Centre and observed that the objections raised were technical in nature. The court took cognisance of the fact that a co-prisoner of Ramalingam, I. Mayandi Bharathi, who issued the co-prisoner certificate in support of Ramalingam, was a recipient of the Centre’s pension scheme.
Also, Ramalingam was a recipient of the State’s pension scheme. He was arrested and imprisoned in Palayamkottai prison from November 1942 to June 1943. The Centre had preferred an appeal on the ground that Ramalingam had produced only one co-prisoner’s certificate and his claim was not received through the State government, following verification and recommendation.
