An injury suffered by a member of the armed forces during casual leave while engaged in agricultural activity or occupation is not attributable to military service and does not entitle the member to disability pension under the Pension Regulation for the Army, 1961.

Swatanter Kumar, J.

1. What is the ambit and scope of expression "attributable to and aggravated by military service" appearing in para 173 of the Pension Regulation for the Army, 1961 is the precise question that falls for consideration before this Court, in the present petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India.

2. The undisputed facts are that the petitioner was selected as Sepoy in the Indian Army on 8.9.1988 and consequently became subject to the provisions of the Indian Army Act and other rules and regulations. On 21.4.1991, the petitioner proceeded on casual leave and he was to return on 28.4.1991. Unfortunately, the right hand of. the petitioner was crushed at home when he was operating wheat thresher. This injury resulted in amputation of his right hand and consequent disability to the petitioner. The authorities concerned invalided the petitioner out of Army service on 30.12.1991. The petitioner raised a claim for grant of disability pension, which was declined by the respondents vide order dated 17.9.1992 (Annexure P-3 to the petition). The petitioner preferred an appeal against this order on 4.12.1992, but the same was rejected by the respondents on 17.5.1994 resulting in filing of the present petition.

3. The reason given by the respondents for rejecting the request of the petitioner for grant of disability pension in the order, Annexure P-3 which has been impugned by the petitioner in this writ petition, are as under :-

"It has been decided by the Pension Sanctioning Authority that the disability from which you suffered during service in the Army and on which your claim is based :-

(a) Is not attributable to military service.

(b) Does not fulfil the following conditions, namely, it existed before and has remained aggravated thereby.

(c) Is attributable to/aggravated by military service but assessed at less than 20%. ID rejected.

Accordingly no disability pension is admissible to you under rules."

4 The provisions of law which have a bearing on the matter in issue in that writ petition are Paras 173 and 175 of the Pension Regulation for the Army, 1961. Rule 2 of Appendix II and Para 13 of Entitlement Rules to Casuality -Pensionary Awards to the Armed Forces Personnel, 1982. It will be appropriate to reproduce these provisions for proper appreciation of the contentions raised by respective parties :-

"173. Unless otherwise specifically provided a disability pension consisting of service element and disability element may be granted to an individual who is invalided out of service on account of disability which is attributable to or aggravated by military service in non-battle casualty and is assessed at 20 per cent or over.

The question whether a disability is attributable to or aggravated by a military service shall be determined under the rule in Appendix II."

"175. If the disability of an individual in wholly or partly due to his serious negligence or misconduct, the amount of disability pension otherwise admissible may be reduced at the discretion of the competent authority."

"Rule 2 in Appendix II reads as follows:-

"Disablement or death shall be accepted as due to military service provided it is certified by appropriate medical authority that :- (a) the disablement is due to a wound, injury or disease which

(i) is attributable to military service; or

(ii) existed before or arose during military service and has been and remains aggravated thereby.

XX XX XX XX XX "

Para 13 of Entitlement Rules to Casualty Pensionary Awards to the Armed Forces Personnel 1982 reads as follows:-

"13. In respect of accidents or injuries, the following rules shall be observed-:- (a) Injuries sustained when that man is on duty so defined shall be deemed to have resulted from military service, but in cases of injuries due to serious negligence/misconduct the question of reducing the disability pension will be considered.

(b) In cases of self-inflicted injuries whilst on duty, attributability shall not be cons