40 years of service v. ‘lifestyle disorder’: Delhi High Court allows veteran’s pension, says vague labels can’t impede benefits

“The AFT committed an error in denying the disability element of pension. In the absence of any other identified causal connection for the said disabilities, the rejection of the claim for disability pension by the Military establishment cannot be sustained,” the court said on February 23.

‘Lifestyle disorder’

• It is also the contention of the respondents (Centre, IAF and others) that the petitioner had a documented personal history of smoking and alcohol consumption, thereby insinuating that the diseases were attributable to the petitioner’s own conduct.
• However, this court is not persuaded by the respondents’ arguments, considering that such a finding finds no mention either in the release medical board (RMB) report or in the impugned order.
• In the present case, the RMB has merely classified the petitioner’s disability of primary hypertension as a lifestyle disorder, with the onset in a peace station.
• The RMB says nothing about the specific lifestyle factors of the petitioner, which may have led to the cause of the disease.
• Referring to a disease as a lifestyle disorder will not prove/confirm that the disease was not attributable to military service.

• In case the lifestyle of the officer is the cause of the disease, the medical opinion must record the causative lifestyle factors (i.e., enlist the reasons for such an opinion) for holding neither attributable to, nor aggravated by military service (NANA).
• Merely stating that the disease is a lifestyle disorder would not justify the opinion of the RMB holding the disease was NANA by the military service.
• The RMB has not identified any feature(s) of the petitioner’s lifestyle that could have resulted in the disability.
• In contradiction, the RMB has categorically recorded that the disability is not attributable to the petitioner’s own negligence or misconduct.
• The opinion of the RMB, characterising the condition of primary hypertension as a lifestyle disorder, is a mere conclusion, which stands negated and, in any event, is not substantiated by any cogent reasons.

Overweight argument rejected

• Mere obesity, by itself, does not ipso facto render other disabilities, such as primary hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and CAD (Coronary Artery Disease), suffered by force personnel, attributable to obesity.
• Therefore, the reasoning for denying the grant of disability pension in respect of the other disabilities, solely on the ground that the petitioner was overweight, cannot be sustained.

• The RMB has not recorded the petitioner’s weight as a reason for the onset of the disabilities.
• In the absence of any such finding by the RMB, the AFT could not have independently drawn a causal connection between the petitioner’s disabilities and his weight.
• The AFT, in doing so, has travelled beyond the medical opinion on record and attributed a cause that was never opined by the RMB.

CAD explanation called ‘wholly untenable’

• The most striking part of the judgment concerns the RMB’s reasoning for coronary artery disease.
• The board had simply written: “As per 14 days charter of duties dated 14 July 2016.”
• The high court called this explanation “wholly untenable.”
• Heart disease, it noted, develops over a prolonged period and cannot logically be linked merely to the duties performed in the 14 days preceding diagnosis.
• Such perfunctory reasoning, the court observed, cannot deprive a soldier of a statutory pensionary benefit.

Final Relief

• Allowing Singh’s writ petition, the court quashed the AFT’s order and directed the Centre to grant disability pension at 50 per cent for life, along with arrears from the date of discharge .
• The payment must be made within eight weeks, failing which interest at 12 per cent per annum will apply.

Four decades in uniform

• Singh joined the Indian Air Force on June 20, 1980, in medical category ‘AYE’, signifying that he was in sound health at the time of enrolment.
• Over the next 40 years, 6 months and 10 days, he served in multiple postings, including ‘Modified Field Areas’.
• It was only in July 1999, nearly 19 years into his career that he was diagnosed with primary hypertension.
• He was placed in a lower medical category and prescribed lifelong medication, but continued to serve.
• In April 2016, while still in active service, he experienced severe chest pain and was rushed to Base Hospital, Lucknow.

• Investigations revealed triple vessel coronary artery disease (CAD TVD), a serious condition involving blockage in three coronary arteries.
• He underwent open heart surgery on May 9, 2016.
• The RMB later assessed his primary hypertension at 30 per cent and CAD (TVD) at 30 per cent fixing a composite disability of 50 per cent for life.
• Yet, in the same breath, it declared that the conditions were “neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service” (NANA).