HYDERABAD: India won the 1971 Indo-Pak war, but Hyderabad-based 70-year-old war veteran P Seetaramaraju, who actively participated in the conflict, has been continuously fighting a battle with his own system to obtain a free house site promised to war widows, disabled personnel, and ex-servicemen. After being severely injured in the war, he was medically boarded out of service in 1975. Since then, his efforts to secure a free house site have remained futile.Justice NV Shravan Kumar of the Telangana high court has now come to his aid, directing the state govt to consider allotting a 300-square-yard house site to Seetaramaraju anywhere within a municipal area of Telangana, setting aside a 2014 govt order rejecting his claim solely on the ground of nativity.Passing the order, Justice Shravan Kumar held that the authorities failed to consider subsequent govt policy decisions extending house-site benefits to war-disabled soldiers at the place where they actually reside.Senior counsel P Venugopal, appearing for Seetaramaraju, argued that rejecting the petitioner’s claim solely on the ground that he belongs to West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh was arbitrary and unsustainable. “Although the petitioner is originally from West Godavari, he has resided continuously in Hyderabad since 1975 after being medically boarded out of the Army. Both Indian Army records and previously prepared official allotment documents for 300 square yards in Hydernagar village recognise Hyderabad as his permanent residence,” the counsel submitted, further contending that the restrictive 2014 order was issued merely to circumvent earlier court directions.‘No vacant land’The state opposed the plea, arguing that the applicable govt orders permitted allotment only in the beneficiary’s native district and that the petitioner had no right to seek land at a place of his choice. It also submitted that no vacant govt land was available in the survey number sought. “Denying rehabilitation benefits to a soldier who sacrificed for the nation on technical grounds defeats the very purpose of the welfare scheme,” the judge noted.Disposing of the petition, the judge clarified that the petitioner cannot insist on a particular parcel of land and directed the govt to allot a suitable 300-square-yard house site in accordance with law within three months.
