Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, January 22
The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has held that peace stations have their own pressure of rigorous military training and the associated stress and strain of military service, which entitle an individual to disability benefits if a disease is contracted during service.
A retired Major General had contended that at the time of his commissioning in March 1985, he was found mentally and physically fit and there is no note in service documents that he was suffering from any disease at the time of joining the Army.
He was detected with primary hypertension and coronary artery disease in 2014 and 2015, while posted to Jabalpur, categorised as a peace location. At the time of his retirement in March 2021, the release medical board assessed the disability at 51 percent for life, but held it as neither attributable to, nor aggravated by military service.
Consequently, his claim for disability pension was rejected by the pension authorities. He averred that since the diseases were contracted during service, about 30 years after commissioning, they were neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service. He also sought rounding off the disability element to 75 percent as provided for under the pension rules.
Referring to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in disability matters, the Tribunal’s bench comprising Justice Umesh Chandra Srivastava and Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain heldthat the medical board had denied attributability of the diseases to military service on the grounds that the onset of the diseases were in a peace station.
“However, considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that this reasoning for denying disability element of disability pension to petitioner is not convincing and doesn’t reflect the complete truth on the matter. Peace stations have their own pressure of rigorous military training and associated stress and strain of military service,” the bench said.
Ruling that both diseases should be considered as aggravated by military service, the Bench set aside the impugned orders rejecting the officer’s claim for disability pension and directed that he be granted disability pension, rounded off to 75 per cent, for life with effect from the date of his retirement.
