PoW major's wife to get price of promised 10-acre land

CHANDIGARH: In a pathbreaking order, Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday directed the Punjab government to pay the widow of 1971 India-Pak war braveheart Major Kanwaljit Singh, missing since 44 years, an amount equivalent to the price of 10 acres of cultivable land in the state.
The order will act as a precedent for kin of all soldiers who were declared as prisoners of war (PoWs) and not martyrs.
It has huge ramifications for family members of all the 54 POWs of 1971 war, as they would also be presumed to be "martyrs" and entitled to benefits meant for "martyrs" as per the policies of the concerned state governments. Around 15 of these 54 POWs are from Punjab and Haryana.
The Punjab government had refused to consider Major Kanwaljit Singh as a martyr and even declined to accept the condolence letters from then prime minister Indira Gandhi and Army headquarters as proof for his martyrdom. The government had argued that the letters sent to the Major's wife Jasbir Kaur had no official authority. The state had also argued that his name also figured in the list of PoWs in 1971 war.
A division bench headed by Justice Surya Kant directed the state government to determine the collector rate for 10 acres of land by comparing the collector rates of cultivable land in all districts of the state. The bench wants the exercise is to be completed within three months and the payment to be made to the widow to be determined within two months.
Slamming the 2010 rules, which mooted payment of such compensation at the rate of one lakh per acre for 10 acres of cultivable land (instead of allotting 10 acres of land), the bench observed, "We may take notice of the fact that one cannot purchase even one-eighth of an acre in any corner of Punjab for Rs one lakh".
Major Kanwaljit is believed to have been captured from Husainiwala sector on December 3, 1971, during the Indo-Pak war.
His wife had moved the high court, seeking orders to Punjab government to honour him by allotting 10 acres of land to her under Rule 4 of Punjab Package Deal Properties (Disposal) Rules, 1976. In support of her claim, she had produced a letter written by then PM Indira Gandhi on February 3, 1973, and another one by the Army headquarters on January 25, 1972.
In her letter addressed to Jasbir Kaur, Indira Gandhi had observed, "the entire country is with you in your hour of shock and grief and crores of Indian brothers are indebted to Major Kanwaljit Singh, who sacrificed his life for the defence of the nation."
Major Kanwaljit Singh was also awarded Shaurya Chakra, the country's third highest gallantry award, for displaying gallantry and initiative of high order on February 2, 1971, by repelling a grenade attack by the Pakistani soldiers.