Dismissing a petition seeking a uniform compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the family of each of the soldiers who had laid down his life fighting the enemy, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice S N Variava and Justice S K Mahajan, said the court would not like to interfere in such matters as it was the ``discretion'' of the State.

Seeking guidelines to the Centre and states on granting a uniform compensation to the martyrs, petitioner advocate Parmanand Katara said there was no ``parity'' at present, as some State Governments had announced Rs three lakh and some Rs 10 lakh as ex-gratia payment to the family of each soldier.

``Arbitrary and discriminatory announcement of the compensation by different states generate the feeling of disappointment, helplessness and promotes fatalistic view which should not be encouraged bywelfare state, and that too in the case of martyrs whose lives cannot be evaluated in terms of money,'' Katara in his plea said.

It said that neither the Centre nor the State Governments had come out with a particular ``equal'' figure of ex-gratia amount to be paid to permanently handicapped army personnel as a policy decision.

The petition claimed that the Government has so far got nearly Rs 200 crore as contribution to Prime Minister's Relief Fund in the name of martyrs, but ``unfortunately, there is (sic) no guidelines to regulate and disburse the money''.

``As there is no shortage of money in the Prime Minister's Relief Fund and Rs 15 lakh compensation to the victim's family can be given even out of the donations received so far,'' it said.

The petitioner said the donated money should be paid to the martyrs' families as per the ``wish'' of the donors, not according to the decision of the Government and no money should be ``retained'' for any other purposes from the amount.