‘Fag end of life’: Why court allowed ex-Army man pension 33 years after he left service

Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury heard the matter on May 27.

The order added that it appears that after 33 years of his discharge, the respondent had approached the authorities for a grant of pension, which was rejected.

Claim and court’s reasoning for pension grant

• He approached the AFT, claiming that the shortfall in his service for the grant of a pension benefit ought to be condoned.
• The tribunal, relying on the decision of the Supreme Court in Union of India and Anr Vs Surinder Singh Parmar, condoned the shortfall and directed the grant of pension to the respondent, but restricted the payment of arrears only from three years before the date of filing of the Original Application before the tribunal.
• Advocate Choudhury has submitted that the facts of the case of Surinder Singh Parmar are distinguishable from the present case because it dealt with the Navy Pension Regulation.
• The Army Pension Rules are governed by the relevant Regulation (paragraph 125), which explicitly prohibits condonation of shortfall for persons discharged at their own request.
• We have examined paragraph 125 of the Regulations, wherein there is no such explicit proscription in condonation of the shortfall in the period of service for the grant of pension to a discharged employee.

Voluntary discharge, legal battle

The Centre challenged the May 2022 order passed by the AFT, relaxing the minimum service period for qualifying the respondent for the grant of pension. It has been directed that the respondent be paid pension within three months from the date of passing of the order by the tribunal, and since the order was being passed after 33 years of his discharge from service, the arrears would be restricted to three years before the date of filing of the Original Application, i.e., June, 2020.

The respondent, former Naik Sharani Gogin, joined the Indian Army in 1973 and was discharged on June 30, 1987, at his own request, after completing 13 years, 11 months, and six days of service. He sought voluntary discharge because of some domestic problems.

Under the Pension Regulations for the Army, 1961, the minimum qualifying service for pension is 15 years. Since he fell short of the qualifying period of service, he was not granted any pension at the time of his discharge.

Representing the state, Senior Advocate and Deputy Solicitor General of India R K D Choudhury submitted that no reason has been assigned by the tribunal for such condonation after 33 years of the discharge of the respondent.