SC PENALISES GOVT, ARMY WITH ₹50K FOR LITIGATION ON SOLDIER'S WIDOW

The Supreme Court on Thursday imposed a ₹50,000 penalty on the Union government and the Indian Army for forcing a soldier's widow into unnecessary litigation, as it dismissed their appeal against a tribunal's decision granting her a liberalised pension after her husband's death during a counterterrorism patrol in Jammu & Kashmir.

- Utkarsh Anand

"In our view, in a case like this, the respondent ought not to have been dragged to this court, and the decision-making authority of the appellants ought to have been sympathetic to the widow of a deceased soldier who died in harness. Therefore, we propose to impose costs quantified as ₹50,000, which will be payable to the respondent (widow)," held a bench of justices Abhay S Oka and AG Masih.