Delhi HC seeks to ascertain credentials of petitioner claiming widows' pension halted amid COVID
Aug 30, 2020
New Delhi [India], Aug 30 : The Delhi High Court has sought to ascertain the credentials of a petitioner and his livelihood, asking the man to file on oath indicating how many public interest litigations he has filed in the last three years and what social work he has done so far.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan, while hearing a PIL filed by a man who claimed himself to be a social worker, said that it appears that the petitioner has filed multiple PILs in this court.
"We, therefore, in order to ascertain the credentials of this petitioner, direct the petitioner to point out on oath that in the last three years how many public interest litigations have been filed by him, the subject matter thereof, nature of orders passed, and what social work has been done by him so far," the court said in the proceedings conducted through video conferencing.
The court also sought to know on oath as to how he is getting his livelihood, and the details of the petitioner's bank account, including bank account number, name of the bank and branch.
However, the High Court clarified that it is calling for the material only to satisfy the judiciary in this regard and listed the matter for September 21.
Petitioner, in his plea, has alleged that pension to around 12,000 widows has been discontinued during the COVID-19 lockdown by the Ministry of Woman and Child Development without any valid reason and sought the urgent release of the widow pensions after due verification.
