News
Widowed mother of SLAF officer ‘killed in action’ appeals for redress
View(s):By Chrishanthi Christopher
Flt.Lt. S.V.Sanjeeva Fernando
The mother of a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) officer who died when his aircraft was shot down by the LTTE 21 years ago, has been denied death gratuity due to a shortfall in the required period of service in the SLAF, has made a fresh appeal to the government to reconsider her case and grant redress.
Mrs Patricia Fernando (69 ), a widow living alone said her son, Flt.Lt. S.V. Sanjeeva Fernando died along with 53 others in the aircraft, when his flight AVROCR834 was shot down on the morning of April 29, 1995, in a missile attack.
She said that, for the last 8 years, she has made several appeals to the then and to the present government that her case be viewed on humanitarian grounds, and be compensated, has been ignored.
Section 14 (1) of the Armed Forces Pensions and Gratuities code of 1981 states that, personnel in the Tri-Forces and the police are entitled to death gratuity payment Rs 100,000, only if they have completed 5 years service. The law remained unchanged even after 1983, when several soldiers died in combat, fighting for their country. Many Tri-Forces personnel and the police have been affected by this unchanged clause.
Flt.Lt. Fernando who was 24 years at the time of his death, had served only 4 years 9 months and 13 days, 2 months and 17 days short of 5 years. Hence, his ‘next-of-kin’ were denied the death gratuity.
In a further injustice meted out to Mrs. Fernando, the insurance compensation of Rs.100,000 given to the Tri-Forces and the police who died in the war, has been denied. The insurance grant enacted on June 1, 1995, deprives families of personnel who died prior to this date, of this grant. The government, in 2006, by Cabinet paper dated April 26, 2006, states that, all personnel of the Tri-Forces and the police who died, disappeared and were disabled in action, be paid compensation. Mrs Fernando, who now lives on her son’s salary (posthumously paid till the deceased is 55 years, to next-of-kin) stated that, initially, the SLAF had informed her by letter dated May 8, 1995, that her family was entitled to the death gratuity of Rs 78,990. However, as she did not receive any monies even by 2008, she had called at the SLAF office and inquired, only to be informed that her son is not entitled for the death gratuity. Also the death insurance be made retrospective to include the year 1983, when the war proper started. Meanwhile, Defence Secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi said he is willing to review the case and examine what redress could be granted to the deceased’s mother.
Patricia Fernando