Punjab and Haryana High Court rules Army personnel entitled to disability pension even below 20 per cent threshold

The bench said that the state has not been able to rebut the fact that while suffering from the disability, the officer could not have continued in service.

The order added that the injury, which is aggravated during military service, forms the basis of his being relieved from service.

Case of legal battle of disability pension

The central government was challenging the 2019 order of the Armed Forces Tribunal in which the benefit of disability element of disability pension has been allowed in favour of the respondent, an Indian Army personnel, who joined the force in November 1971 and served until September 1992.

Upon his discharge from service, his disability was identified as ‘Hepato-Intestinal Amoebiasis’ and was assessed at 15-19 per cent, which is below the 20 per cent minimum usually required for pension disability.

Representing the state, Senior Panel Counsel, Anil Kumar Sharma, submitted that the disability of ‘Hepato-Intestinal Amoebiasis’, which was suffered by the respondent while being in service and that the same has already been assessed to be not attributable to and not aggravated by the military service.

He contended that this was not appreciated by the court while granting disability pension of 20 per cent and thereafter rounded off to 50 per cent to the respondent.

Court’s findings

• On being asked whether, with the disability from which the respondent suffered, the personnel concerned could have continued in service and performed his duties without any hindrance, counsel for the petitioners has not been able to rebut the fact that while suffering from the said disability, the officer could not have continued in service.
• Once, it was an established fact that the officer concerned could not have continued in service owing to the said disability, the only option available was to invalidate him out of service.
• As per the judgment in Sukhvinder Singh’s case, when the injury/disability, which led to an army personnel being invalidated from service, is assessed at less than 20 per cent, for the grant of disability pension to such army personnel, the same has to be treated at a minimum of 20 per cent.

Other courts’ rulings

Delhi High Court Army pension news: Over 40 years after he was medically discharged from service in 1979, and almost three decades after his disability pension was discontinued in 1998, a retired Indian Army officer has secured partial relief from the Delhi High Court, which ruled that a disability once declared permanent cannot be downgraded without a fresh medical assessment.

A bench of Justices V Kameswar Rao and Manmeet Pritam Singh was hearing a writ petition filed by the central government challenging the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) orders of July 13, 2023, and November 14, 2024, which had restored disability pension to Captain J K Verma, assessed his disability at 20 per cent and granted enhanced benefits by rounding it off to 50 per cent for life.

“Once the disability has been assessed at 20% for life, then the same is permanent for life. So, to that extent, the conclusion of the Tribunal cannot be contested,” the Delhi High Court said on April 20, directing the Centre to calculate and issue necessary pension payment orders (PPO) to the retired Army officer within a period of three months.

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has dismissed a plea filed by the Centre, upholding an Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) order that granted an ex-serviceman the benefit of “rounding off” his disability pension from the date of his discharge in 2012.

A division bench of Justices Sanjeev Kumar and Sanjay Parihar was dealing with the government’s plea challenging the AFT’s order.

Dismissing the plea, the court said, “We wish to state that an internal communication between the Government of India and the three Army Chiefs cannot change the law declared by the Supreme Court.”
The government challenged the tribunal’s order, citing a circular from February 9, 2018, that the benefit of broad-banding for those who completed their term of engagement should only be granted from January 1, 2016.