As India celebrated its 76th Republic Day, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a sharp rebuke to the Central Government for its failure to grant a disability pension to a retired Army officer, calling the oversight “wholly unjustified.” The judgment came amidst national festivities, which the court noted were only possible due to the “strenuous duties” performed by the armed forces at the borders and in counter-terrorism operations.
Justices Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Meenakshi I. Mehta, in an order dated January 23, emphasized the country’s debt to its military forces. “The Union of India and its authorities are required to be alive to their situations,” the bench stated, highlighting the plight of elderly veterans, some in their 80s, who are forced to seek legal redress for their entitlements—a scenario the court deemed inappropriate for a welfare state.
The controversy centers on a petition from the Union government challenging an August 2018 order by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). The AFT had directed that the disability pension of the retired officer be rounded off to 50%, following a precedent set by the Supreme Court in the case of Union of India vs. Ram Avtar. The government contested the AFT’s decision, citing delays in the application process by the army personnel.
The bench pointed out that a pension is not a gift but a right for those who have incurred disabilities in the line of duty. The Supreme Court had previously affirmed decisions by the AFT that required rounding off the percentages of disability to 50%, 75%, or 100%, based on the initial assessment of the military personnel’s condition.
Expressing frustration, the justices noted the lack of action by the Pension Department to implement these directives, despite clear instructions from the Supreme Court. “Their approaching the AFT cannot be said to be an act of delay on their part, but is a case where the Union of India and its authorities have failed to perform their duty in implementing the judgment,” the bench stated.
