IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE Present:-

The Hon’ble Justice Madhuresh Prasad And The Hon’ble Justice Supratim Bhattacharya W.P.C.T. 124 of 2025 No.13940516F Ex-Nk Sukhdeo Prasad Vs.

Union of India &Ors.

For the Petitioner : Mr. Aniruddha Datta For the Respondents : Ms. Rashmi Bothra, Ms. Garima Raijada Judgment on : 28^th August, 2025 Supratim Bhattacharya, J.:

1. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned counsel for the respondents.

2. The petitioner herein being the applicant before the Armed Forces Tribunal, Regional Bench, Kolkata had preferred an Original Application being O.A. 18/2022 and had prayed for the following :

“Relief(s) Sought :

(i) The impugned order, being Letter No.

13940516F/Pen/DP Corres dated 17 Dec 2021, issued from the office of Respondent No. 3 herein (part of Annexure – A-4 herein), be set aside as illegal and improper;

(ii) The applicant be held entitled to receive Invalid Pension/disability pension after condonation of shortfall of his qualifying service. Consequently, the respondent concerned be directed to condone the shortfall of his qualifying service and thereafter pay Invalid Pension/disability pension to the applicant at rounded off rate of 50% for life w.e.f. the date next to his date of discharge;

(iii) The respondents concerned be directed to release the arrears of Invalid Pension/Disability pension within a specific period of time, failing which the applicant be held entitled to receive interest thereon at proper rate, from the date of order till the date of its actual payment;…”

3. In the said O.A. on 06.05.2022 the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), Kolkata passed the following :

“12. In the above judgment the Hon’ble Supreme Court also referred to Annexure I of Chapter IV of the Guide to Medical Officers (Military Pensions) 2002 – Entitlement: General Principles, which stated that “certain diseases which may be undetectable by physical examination on enrolment include the mental disorders; epilepsy and relapsing forms of mental disorders which have intervals of normality, unless adequate history is given at the time by the member. The Entitlement Rules itself provide that certain diseases ordinarily escape detention including epilepsy and mental disorder, therefore, we are unable to agree that mere fact that Schizophernia, a mental disorder was not noticed at the time of enrolment will lead to presumption that the disease was aggravated or attributable to Military Service.” Therefore, the Hon’ble Supreme Court further observed that entitlement to disability pension should not be considered unless it is clearly established that the cause of such disease was adversely affected due to factors related to conditions of Military Service. Though the provision of grant of disability pension is a beneficial provision, but mental disorder at the time of recruitment cannot normally be detected when a person behaves normally. Since there is a possibility of non-detection of mental disorder, therefore, it cannot be said that Schizophernia is presumed to be attributed to or aggravated by Military Service.

13. In view of the aforesaid, and accepting the view taken in the case of Ex Cfn Narsingh Yadav (supra) the OA being devoid of merit stands dismissed.”

4. The fact of the present case is that the petitioner initially was enrolled in the Indian Air Force on 28^th August, 1974 and was discharged from service on 30^th January, 1975 after serving for only 156 days. Thereafter, the petitioner was enrolled in the Indian Army in Army Medical Corps on 18th October, 1975 and was invalidated out of service on 4^th November, 1984, on the account of suffering from Schizophrenia Psychosis. The petitioner was invalidated out of service with 20% disability for two years which was declared as not attributable to military service. Thus, total service tenure of the petitioner, by clubbing his services in the Air Force and Army comes to less than 9 years and 6 months.

Being