JUDGMENT :

Sureshwar Thakur, J.

1. Through the instant writ petition, the petitioner herein prays for setting aside of the order dated 09.08.2024 (Annexure P-3) as passed by the learned Armed Forces Tribunal, Chandigarh, where bys, the application filed by the petitioner for grant of family pension besides the grant of benefit of disability pension of her deceased husband was dismissed.

Factual Background

2. The husband of the petitioner was enrolled in the Army on 18.12.1971 and was invalided out from service on 26.05.1977 on account of the husband of the petitioner suffering from 'Schizophrenia'. The degree of the disability was assessed @ 40 % for two years.

3. The disability element claim of the husband of the petitioner was rejected by the Competent Authority, thus on the ground that the supra disability was neither attributable to nor being aggravated by rendition of military service.

4. The husband of the petitioner did not prefer any appeal against the rejection of his claim for grant of disability pension.

5. The husband of the petitioner died on 27.08.1994. The petitioner sent representations to the competent authority rather for grant of family pension but the same were rejected respectively vide letter dated 28.11.2019 and vide letter dated 13.12.2020.

6. Aggrieved from the afore, the petitioner filed application before the learned Armed Forces Tribunal concerned, for grant of family pension to her besides to grant disability pension to her deceased husband. The said O.A. was dismissed vide order dated 09.08.2024. The relevant part of the order is extracted hereinafter.

"6. There is unreasonable delay of 26 years in filing the present OA. The Union of India has also raised the plea that the applicant is not entitled to any relief at this belated stage. We find force in the contention of Union of India that there is no sufficient reason shown by the applicant to condone the delay or to consider her case either for disability pension of her husband or for grant of family pension to her at this belated stage because her husband enrolled in the year 1971 and invalided out in 1977. During life time, the husband of the applicant has not made any correspondence for grant of pension and he has expired long back in 1994."

7. On this point there is judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in Union of India & Ors. Ex Sep. R. Munusamy, Civil Appeal No. 6536 of 2022 decided on July 19, 2022 wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed that the claim of such like applicant should not have been entertained and that too 20 years after discharge."

7. Feeling dis-satisfied from the afore order, wherebys, her claim for grant of family pension besides claim for grant of disability pension to her husband was declined, the petitioner has filed thereagainst the instant writ petition.

Submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioner.

8. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits, that as far as the claim for disability pension is concerned, the said claim thus is a recurring and continuous cause of action, therebys, the learned Tribunal ought to have condoned the delay besides ought to have decided the application on merits.

9. Moreover, since the case of the husband of the petitioner, is squarely covered by the judgment of the Apex Court in case titled as Dharamvir Singh Vs. Union of India, reported in (2013) 7 SCC 316, inasmuch as, in terms thereof, with the husband of the petitioner joining the Army in a fit state of health and upon his invalidation, his disability becoming assessed more than 20 %, thereupons, as stated in the verdict (supra), the said disability was to be declared to become encumbered upon him during the course of his rendering service in the Army. Submissions of the learned counsel for the respondents.

10. On the other hand, the learned counsel for the respondents submits that the impugned order as passed by the Tribunal concerned does not require any interference.

11. The Original Application filed by the petitioner has been right