An IA was filed today by Sri Jay Savla Advocate, on behalf of the Petitioners in P & H High Court Chandigarh in CA No 6995 of 2013 - LIC of India & Ors Vs Late ML Gandhi and Ors. Notices were served as required, along with copies of the Application on the counsel of ALL the Parties in the clubbed CAs posted for hearing on 23 Sept 2015. The IA is expected to be numbered after routine scrutiny by the Registry, hopefully before the weekend and may be listed for ‘mention’ in the following week. Copy of the IA filed will be circulated shortly for the benefit of information to all.
The
filing of the IA today was preceded by intensive discussion among the
petitioners’ representatives (members of their legal sub-committee) and several
of their senior members and other well-wishers.
The
chief purpose of this IA is to take to the Notice of the Hon’ble Supreme Court
that its 7 May 2015 Interim Directions (to pay 20% of the amount due under the
judgement, within six weeks) remained on
paper till date. This is not a Contempt Application but is an Application
to SC to issue appropriate directions to LIC for proper implementation of the 7 May Order forthwith. This is a
proactive step to expose LIC’s mischievous designs to deny any payment to the
LIC Pensioners virtually ignoring the Supreme Court Order and somehow drag the
issue till Sept 23. The action already initiated by LIC in Jaipur and Delhi is
in gross violation of the SC Order of 7 May 2015 although the Petitioners
there, for reasons best known to them, cooperated/colluded
with LIC.
The
IA filed today became possible because LIC’s brazen attempt to mischievously withdraw
20% of the amount deposited in Chandigarh was successfully stalled by us on 20
July 2015.
We
do not expect a cakewalk for the IA before the SC Bench because we anticipate
LIC to come forward with stiff resistance to the prayer with all sorts of reasons
including the fact that the petitioners at Delhi and Jaipur had no problem with
LIC’s (even belated) action there and the Chandigarh Petitioners should also
fall in line to accept the cheap dole, even if it is in gross violation of the
Apex Court’s Order.
I
am aware our task is to fight not only LIC & Government of India to secure
what we are legitimately entitled to but most unfortunately we have also to
protect ourselves from the damage being caused by the selfish/short-sighted
approach of our own colleagues elsewhere. But we are proceeding with the
confidence that the truth and justice are on our side.
Even
if the IA does not yield immediate results for whatever reason, we would
certainly succeed in telling the Bench that its directions to pay 20% is far
from being complied with till date and the Application is otherwise sure to
give us a head-start on 23 Sept 2015 in more than one way.
M Sreenivasa Murty
Please click here to read IAInterlocutory Application