$~45 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Judgment reserved on: 16.01.2026 Judgment delivered on: 24.02.2026 + W.P.(C) 4338/2025 & CM APPL. 20065/2025, 40174/2025 MASTER ATHRAVA TRIPATHI & ANR. .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Gautam Narayan, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Disha Joshi, Mr. Shashank Jain and Ms. Asmita Singh, Advs.

versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Abhishek Yadav, SPC with Mr.

Kapil Dev Yadav and Mr. Atul Kumar, Advs. for R-1 to R-3.

Mr. Praveen Kumar Singh, Mr. C. Sanal Nambiar, Ms. Chetna Singh and Mr. Neeraj Kumar Mishra, Advs. for R-4.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIKAS MAHAJAN

JUDGMENT

VIKAS MAHAJAN, J.

1. The present petition has been filed seeking following reliefs:

“(a) Call for the complete record leading to the issuance of the impugned letter dated 21.05.2018 by the Respondent No.1 and after perusal thereof issue an appropriate Writ including the Writ of Certiorari to read-down 'Priority-II' clause of the said impugned letter dated 21.05.2018 in so far as the same discriminates between "soldiers disabled in action" and "soldiers disabled in action and boarded out of service" with regard to giving the benefit of reservation to their wards in the Priority-II in CW category in various Under-graduate/ Post-graduate courses;

(b) Direct the Respondents to treat Petitioner No.2 and his ward (Petitioner No. l) as 'Priority-II' in the 'CW Category' for the purpose of admission to various courses and program of the various educational institutions including University of Delhi, as well as for the purpose of other academic and education concessions;

(c) Direct the Respondents to accord the benefit of 'Priority-II' in the 'CW category' to the Petitioner No.1 for admission to three years full time undergraduate B. Com. (Hons.) course at Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi.”

2. Essentially, the petitioners have laid challenge to the impugned Policy dated 21.05.2018, issued by the Government of India (MOD), Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare/respondent no. 1, and implemented by the Kendriya Sainik Board/respondent no.2, whereby the category of ‘Priority- II’ under the children/widows quota [hereinafter referred as “CW quota”] has been restricted only to the “wards of soldiers disabled in action and boarded out from service,” thereby excluding wards of those soldiers who, though disabled in action, continued in service.

3. The petitioner no. 1 seeks that he should be accorded ‘Priority-II’ status for admission in the CW Category, particularly for admission to the B.Com (Hons.) course at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Universityof Delhi, in the academic session 2025-2028.

4. It is stated that petitioner no. 2 was commissioned in the Indian Army on 08.06.1991 as a regular permanent commission officer. On 09.05.2001, he became permanently disabled after sustaining 40% composite disability during “Operation Rakshak/Parakaram” while deployed in Jammu &

Kashmir. Accordingly, petitioner no. 2, was declared as a “battle casualty”

vide letter dated 31.05.2004 (Annexure P/10).

5. The Army Policy dated 12.05.1997 (Annexure P/7) provides that all battle casualties will be retained in service till completion of their terms of engagement in the rank held/to which promoted. Only if the individual is unwilling to serve or in exceptional cases due to medical reasons invalidment proceedings will be initiated. In light of the above policy, the petitioner no. 2 decided to continue in service, however, after some time he applied for pre-mature retirement [hereinafter, also referred to as “PMR”] due to bad physical condition & deteriorating health, which was granted to him w.e.f. 15.08.2011 (Annexure P/11). The policy dated 12.05.1997 reads thus:

AG/Org2(MP)(C) Army Headquarters DHQPONewDelhi–110010 B/16122/LMC/Org2(MP)(C) 12May97 Headquarters SouthernCommand NorthernCommand WesternCommand EasternCommand CentralCommand ArmyTrgCommand INVALIDMENTOFCASUALTIES

1. Reference our letter No B/10122/LMC/Org 2 (MP) (C) dated

10Apr9