Government plea against AFT Chandigarh order dismissed

Any officer serving in the Armed Forces who was found medically fit at the time of enrolment but was subsequently diagnosed with a disability is entitled to disability pension by rounding off the same, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled.

The ruling came while dismissing a writ petition filed by the Government of India against an order of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), Chandigarh, dated September 15, 2023. The Tribunal had directed the government to give benefits of disability pension in favour of ex-servicemen Kashmir Singh by rounding off the disability element of disability pension at 50 per cent for two years from May 01, 2001 to April 30, 2003, which was assessed at less than 20 per cent (6-10 per cent).

Counsel for the Government submitted that Kashmir Singh had joined the Army on September 14, 1983, and was discharged from service on April 30, 2001 in a low medical category due to “dulodenal ulcer and reflux esophagitis’. The disability was at 6-10 per cent by the Medical Board and was held to be neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service. As the disability was not assessed up to 20 per cent, which is a condition precedent for the grant of disability pension, the Tribunal, the Centre argued, had exceeded its jurisdiction in granting disability pension.

After hearing the arguments, the Bench of Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi and Justice Rohit Kapoor upheld the AFT’s order.

The Bench said in the present case it was undisputed that no note of any disease has been recorded at the time of appellant’s acceptance for military service.

“In the absence of any perversity in the impugned order, either on facts or settled principle of law, no ground is made out for interference by this Court,” the Bench held, dismissing the writ petition.

The Bench further said that as per judgment in Dharamvir Singh’s case, noting that when an Army personnel is found fit at the time of enrolment but later contracts with a disease, the disability is presumed to have been aggravated by and attributable to military service.