Bombay HC raps Maharashtra govt for telling war widow to pay market price for promise

[Sir john]

The Bombay high court on Thursday rapped the state government for telling a war widow of the 1965 India-Pakistan war to pay the market price for land it had promised her. Indira Jadhav, 24 at the time, is 72 today, and lives in Chinchwad, Pune. Indira's husband, Babaji, was a sepoy in the 20 Maratha Light Infantry, Belgaum. He died on October 27, 1965 in Ladakh in a mine explosion. Indira was pregnant, but delivered a stillborn child. She initially took up tailoring to earn a livelihood. For 11 years from 1970, she was a primary school teacher in Ratnagiri; she lived at a place with Rs 45 as the monthly rent. Her petition said Babaji had applied to the then collector of Ratnagiri for allotting 10 acres for cultivation, as per provisions for serving soldiers and ex-servicemen to avail of land. After his death in the war, Indira wrote to various authorities for the allotment, in vain. Her lawyers, Avinash Gokhale and Mayuresh Modgi, told the court that in 1994, she was offered land at an isolated location with no facilities around and so she rejected it. During earlier hearings, the judges had taken note of a handwritten condolence letter by the late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, sent to Indira on November 17, 1965. The Bombay high court Questioned about the allotment, the government's lawyer, Molina Thakur, told the HC's division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and A S Chandurkar that Indira would be charged the 2014 market rate for land at Khed. The judges were surprised. "If you want to grant her land at 2014 market rates, she will not be able to pay the amount," said Justice Oka. The judges remarked that such matters should not be argued by the government. "What is going on? Her husband lost his life in the 1965 war," said Justice Oka. Thakur sought time to take instructions from the government. But the judges said that if allotment letters for residential and agricultural land is not issued by the next hearing (August 4), they will direct the government to allot land according to a 1971 government resolution, thus making it free of occupanc

[Sir john]

lal bahadur shastri time :omg: