Armed Forces Tribunal: In an application filed under Section of the (‘the Act’) by former army personnel claiming disability pension for primary hypertension, the Two Member Bench of Shekher Dhawan, J. And Lt. Gen. (Dr) Ranbir Singh held that the applicant was entitled to the element of disability pension at the rate 30% by rounding it off at the rate of 50% with effect from 01-01-2013 for life.
Background
The applicant was enrolled in the Indian Army in 1985 in a fit state of health and mind in the medical category AYE. He suffered from primary hypertension disability while being in service in May 2011. He was discharged from service on 31-12-2012 after rendering more than 27 years of service. Subsequently, he was brought before the Release Medical Board, which assessed his disability ‘primary hypertension’ @ 30% and held that it was neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service due to onset in peace area. He was granted a service pension, but his claim of disability pension was rejected vide an impugned letter dated 16-02-2013. Aggrieved by this, he filed the present application under Section of the for the grant of disability pension @ 30% with the benefit of rounding off to 50% w.e.f. 01-01-2013 and setting aside of the impugned letter.
Analysis
The Tribunal relied on Dharamvir Singh v. Union of India, wherein the Supreme Court noted that the Pension Sanctioning Authority had mechanically rejected the appellant’s claim of pension on basis of Medical Board’s report which did not mention any reason for its opinion. The Court therein, pointed out that the appellant was fit at the time of joining of service and in the absence of any note in the service record at the time of joining, it was incumbent on Medical Board to look into it before coming to an opinion that the disability is not due to military service. The Court also held that as per Rule 423(a) of General Rules, to determine whether the cause of a disability or death resulting from disease is attributable to service, it is immaterial whether the cause giving rise to the disability or death occurred in an area declared to be a field service/active service area or under normal peace conditions. The Court also held that in the absence of evidence to show that the appellant was suffering from the said disease at the time of joining, it will be presumed that the appellant was in sound physical and mental condition at the time of entering the service and deterioration in his health has taken place due to service as per Rules 5 and 9 of Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pensionary Awards, 1982.
The Tribunal further referred to the identical case of Gulab Jha v. Union of India, wherein, based on the aforementioned decision of the Supreme Court, the AFT, New Delhi held that the applicant, who was suffering from primary hypertension, therein was entitled to disability element of disability pension.
Relying on the aforesaid decisions, the Tribunal held that the applicant was entitled to the element of disability pension at the rate 30% by rounding it off at the rate of 50% with effect from 01-01-2013 for life. Accordingly, the application was accepted, and the Union was directed to calculate and pay the arrears amount within four months, failing which the applicant would be entitled to recover interest at the rate 8% per annum till the realisation of the entire amount.
The Tribunal further held that since the applicant had approached this Tribunal after a lapse of more than 10 years from the date of discharge, arrears were liable to be restricted to three years prior to the date of institution i.e. 14-07-2022.
[Subhash Chander Attri v. Union of India, Original Application No. 1029 of 2024, decided on 04-12-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the applicant: Advocate Navdeep Singh
For the respondent: CGC Parikshit Singh
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