Case Law
Subject : Service Law - Pension Law
"A soldier cannot be asked to prove that the disease was contracted by him on account of military service," the Court reiterated, setting aside the AFT's denial of disability pension.
New Delhi: In a significant ruling reinforcing the rights of armed forces personnel, the Supreme Court has held that when a member of the armed forces is invalided out of service, it must be assumed that their disability was found to be above 20%, thereby attracting a grant of 50% disability pension. A bench comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan set aside orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) that had denied the disability element of pension to an ex-serviceman who was discharged in 1989 for a seizure disorder.
The appellant was enrolled in the army in 1985 and was invalided out of service in August 1989 due to "generalized tonic clonic seizure." An Invaliding Medical Board (IMB) assessed his disability at less than 20% and opined that it was not attributable to or aggravated by military service. Consequently, he was granted only the service element of his pension, not the disability element.
Over the years, three separate Re-Survey Medical Boards consistently assessed his disability between 15-19% for life. The soldier contended that he was healthy at the time of joining and the disability arose after his posting at the high-altitude Siachen glacier. After his representations were rejected, he approached the Armed Forces Tribunal, which dismissed his application, focusing on the finding that his disability was below the 20% threshold. A subsequent review application was also dismissed, leading to the present appeal before the Supreme Court.
Appellant's Counsel:
Argued that the AFT had ignored binding Supreme Court precedents, including
Respondents' Counsel (Union of India): Maintained that the medical boards had correctly assessed the disability as less than 20% and not attributable to service, making the appellant ineligible for the disability element of the pension.
The Supreme Court undertook a detailed examination of the Pension Regulations for the Army, 1961, and the Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pensionary Awards, 1982. The bench highlighted several key legal presumptions that govern such cases:
The Court heavily relied on its previous judgments, quoting from
The judgment extracted a pivotal observation from ***
The Court noted that the AFT had failed to examine the crucial issue of whether the disability was attributable to service and instead erroneously focused only on the percentage of disability.
Finding the AFT's orders "wholly unsustainable in law," the Supreme Court set them aside. The bench observed that the IMB itself had stated that no disability existed before the appellant entered service, thereby strengthening the presumption in his favor.
The Court directed the respondents to grant the disability element of the pension to the appellant at the rate of 50% with effect from 01.01.1996 for life . The arrears are to be paid with 6% per annum interest within three months.
#DisabilityPension #ArmedForces #SupremeCourt
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