‘Soldier is a blank cheque written to country’: Kerala High Court upholds disability pension

“It is a core responsibility of the government and society to protect the morale of the soldiers, as soldiers are the ones who risk their lives for the country. A soldier is a blank cheque written to the country for any amount up to and including his life,” the July 16 order read.

Justices K Natrajan and Johnson John were of the view that it is a core responsibility of the government and society to protect the morale of the soldiers.

The officer had filed an application before the Armed Forces Tribunal against the rejection of his disability pension claim. The tribunal, in its order passed on January 12, 2024, directed the authorities concerned to get the composite degree of disability (combined total score of disability when a person has more than one health issue or impairment) of the officer’s diseases (diabetes and hypertension) evaluated from a medical board and to issue a corrected pension payment order granting disability element of pension to the officer.

‘Disability element’

The high court observed that the tribunal had passed the order after evaluating the regulation for medical services for armed forces, where it was stated that “a disease which has led to an individual’s discharge or death will ordinarily be deemed to have arisen in service if no note of it was made at the time of the individual’s acceptance for service in the armed forces.”

The court also noted that it was given in the regulations that if medical opinion holds that the disease could not have been detected on medical examination before acceptance for service, the disease will not be deemed to have arisen during service.

The court stated that it was not disputed that there was no note of any disease having been recorded at the time when the officer was enrolled for military service. Therefore, in the absence of any medical opinion or records to indicate that the disease could not have been detected on medical examination before acceptance for service, the officer was entitled to the disability element.

The high court upheld the order of the tribunal and stated that the officer was entitled to get disability element of pension for his ‘invaliding’ diseases, and that composite disability of the diseases had to be evaluated by a competent medical board.

‘Medical grounds’

Senior Panel Advocate M S Kiran appearing for the authorities concerned argued that the tribunal was not justified in passing an order against the medical board opinion and that disability of the officer was neither “attributable” to nor “aggravated” by military service.

Advocate Ratheesh B, representing the officer, argued that if there was no record at the time of joining the military service, then a person had to be presumed to be in sound physical and mental condition. The counsel further submitted that if the person was discharged from military service on medical grounds, then any decline in his health must be presumed to be the result of the service, and the person was not responsible to prove it.