AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court has turned down the petition of a 90-year old man requesting for freedom fighter pension by claiming to be an underground freedom fighter during the Hyderabad Liberation Movement. The earlier plea by the elderly man hailing from Nanded was turned down by the secretariat.The division bench comprising justice TV Nalawade and Justice Sunil Kotwal ruled that “it reveals that execpt the recommendation of the district screening committee, the petitioner cannot comply the criteria prescribed under the GR dated July 4, 1995.”The court went on to state that “except the affidavits of freedom fighters which are also found doubtful by the state government and the recommendation of the district screening committee, no reliable substance is available on record to indicate that the petitioner actually participated in ‘Hyderabad Liberation Movement’.Mohanrao Kadam filed for quashing of the order passed by the state government on January 19, 2013, rejecting his application for grant of pension as ‘underground freedom fighter’ in ‘Marathwada Hyderabad Liberation Movement in 1947 to 1948’.Representing the state, AGP Prasanna Kutty contested that the affidavits of the freedom fighters supporting the claims made by Kadam had some erasing by whitener and some overwriting. This were not done by the freedom fighters. Moreover, Kadam’s school leaving certificate or the government record of imprisoned people corroborated with his claim.

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