MoD letter on LAC casualties ignores the most common deaths

The orders now issued by the MoD, however, only cover accidental injuries and deaths on the LAC in natural calamities such as floods, avalanches, cyclones or drowning in rivers in such operational areas but do not cover the major causes of death in the region due to inclement and harsh weather conditions and treacherous terrain such as cardiac failure and deaths due to extreme cold. The letter also curiously states that cases settled prior to issuance of the letter shall not be re-opened.

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Experts, however, state that all aspects of the letter are disappointing. There are various decisions of the Armed Forces Tribunal and also the High Courts, later upheld by the Supreme Court, that even deaths due to reasons such as cardiac arrest in operational areas would entitle widows to liberalised family pension at par with accidents. Further the Courts, including the Supreme Court, have held that cut-off dates cannot be imposed in such matters. In fact, the latest letter being only the removal of an existing anomaly, had to date back to the inception of the anomaly.

Sources privy to the case also point out that the actual note for including LAC in the area admissible for such benefits had not only included accidents but also illnesses arising in such operational areas due to extreme weather. The Army HQ had also included clauses for inclusion of accidents in ammunition storage facilities for liberalized benefits.

Though the latest letter issued by the MoD may technically bring a few future casualties on LAC within the ambit of liberalized awards, the benefits to the bulk of casualties will still remain elusive.

Sources conversant with the anomaly say that a half hearted effort had been made despite the fact that a Committee of Experts constituted by the Defence Minister had recorded that “it must be appreciated that those posted in operational areas are performing cardinal functions for the nation’s defence and are facing the vagaries of nature and also many other dreadful eventualities which cannot be measured or predicted or laid down with a straitjacket formula”.

“A person getting disabled or dying in an operational area of illnesses induced by harsh climatic conditions of such an area or due to an accident while patrolling in such an area is not less important a sacrifice than another dying by a bullet in the same locale. All such individuals posted in operations are an integral part to the success of such operations and the sustenance of such operations,” said an advocate dealing with such cases who requested anonymity.