Why law is an ass

Here is an interesting story. A 70 years old gentleman, retired from Indian Air Force has to fight the courts for 12 years to prove that he is not dead. I mean this sounds like a joke. His family refused to recognize him since they had already moved authorities claiming that he was dead and claiming his pension.

Between 1987 and 1998, he kept moving from one place to another and did not contact his family members, who were residing at their ancestral house in Patiala town.
Bagi stayed at various places in Orissa, Kolkata and also in Dhaka.
When he returned home in 1998, his wife and children refused to recognise him, the ex-air force officer claimed. It was when he approached the IAF authorities that Bagi found his wife had submitted his death certificate there.