CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 – The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that personnel of the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) must be treated as members of the “armed forces of the Union” regarding pensionary benefits, particularly when serving in strategic border zones.
The Division Bench, comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor, upheld the grant of an extraordinary family pension to the widow of a Shaurya Chakra awardee. The court noted that GREF personnel performing duties of national importance in hostile terrains cannot be equated with ordinary workmen.
“Considering the services that the late husband of the petitioner was carrying out, at the time of his unfortunate death, the same would have to be construed as services of that of ‘a member of the armed forces’ and not of a ‘workman’,” the Bench ruled.
The case involved Kuldeep Kaur, whose husband, Mohan Singh, died on July 10, 2000, while supervising road construction on a critical China Study Group route in Arunachal Pradesh. Singh, an Overseer, sacrificed his life to save his colleagues and equipment from a massive falling boulder. His bravery was posthumously recognized with the Shaurya Chakra by the Government of India.
The court observed that Singh’s actions represented a supreme act of devotion to duty during an emergency. The Bench mentioned that his role in such a treacherous environment was far beyond routine construction activity.
“For the supreme sacrifice and exemplary courage shown by the petitioner’s husband, while serving the nation in the most difficult terrain, the Government of India awarded him ‘Shaurya Chakra’, posthumously,” the Bench asserted.
The ruling also dismissed the argument that previous compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act barred the widow from claiming an extraordinary pension. The court held that the incident was not a simple accident but a mishap occurring in the line of duty under emergency conditions.
While the Union of India’s appeal was dismissed, the court partly allowed the widow’s appeal. It directed that arrears be released for a three-year period preceding the filing of the writ petition.
