Ending a long wait, the Union Ministry of Defence has finally sanctioned an amount of Rs 3.19 crore for the World War II veterans in Kerala.
The decision, which comes as a major relief to war veterans (most of them in their 80s and 90s), was taken two years after the Kerala High Court issued an order directing MoD to issue a monthly interim relief of `3,000 to them. With this, a more than one decade-old legal battle by the Kerala Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association has come to a successful culmination. As per available data, as many as 887 World War II veterans from Kerala will get an interim payment of Rs 3000 per month.
As per the order issued by the Kendriya Sainik Board under Union Defence Ministry to Kerala Sainik Welfare Department Director, an amount of Rs 3,19,32000 has been given for disbursement to the veterans. The order states that an undertaking on an affidavit will be obtained from the beneficiaries that they are war veterans and are party to the writ petition.
It was in July 2011 that the Kerala HC issued the order directing the Centre to issue the monthly interim relief.