New Delhi: The defence ministry has decided to contest in high courts disability pensions awarded by Armed Forces Tribunals (AFTs) to several retired Army officers and jawans.
Military personnel move AFTs when their claims are denied by the force.
This comes a month after the ministry tweaked the rules for granting disability pensions to military personnel, which included slashing eligibility criteria for lifestyle diseases like hypertension and heart-related ailments. This sparked a furore among veterans, with some calling the move “arbitrary”, and others calling it an “assault on dignity”.
The latest decision is seen by veterans as a departure from the ministry’s earlier stand on disability pensions and litigations against retired military personnel. When the Narendra Modi-led government first came to power in 2014, the BJP manifesto had spoken about minimising appeals filed by the government against veterans.
In a 9 October letter sent to the legal cells of all army commands, the defence ministry directed that “…writ petitions be filed in the jurisdictional high court” for certain types of cases. This means that the ministry would appeal against various judgments of the Armed Forces Tribunals (AFTs) that may have been in favour of retired personnel demanding disability payouts.
The cases against which appeals will be filed are those that fall under the criteria of “neither attributable to nor aggravated” by military service, or those pertaining to an officer or jawan who sustained a “disability” just before retiring or taking premature retirement, and of those who had less than 20 percent disability at the time of the last annual medical assessment in service, among others.
The letter, written by the Adjutant General — the senior administration officer who reports to the Chief of Army Staff — also stated that the cases that will be examined “have been listed after careful sifting of huge volume files”. The letter does not specify the time period of the cases being considered.
“However, it is requested that identification of the type of case be vetted at your end before forwarding to concerned high court legal cells for filing writ petitions,” the letter further said, adding that the writ petitions will be filed “forthwith in the jurisdictional high court through respective the legal cell”.
The defence ministry has drawn up a list of 10 categories of cases based on which officers, junior commissioned officers (JCOs)/other ranks (ORs) have been extended disability pension.
On directions from the relevant authorities, writ petitions along with prayer for stay order should be filed in the jurisdictional high court immediately, the letter stated.
“At the high court legal cells, the writ petitions of similar nature should be tagged together and for the same, the petitions already filed be scrutinised,” it added. The background or legal details of the cases are to be provided by AFT Legal Cells as required.
The letter also instructed that the “number of writ petitions required to be filed are high and a concerted effort by all stakeholders is required for early implementation of directions of the competent authority”.
Also Read: No pension, no recognition — the plight of officer trainees injured during military training
Detour from govt’s past stand
In 2014, the same year the Modi-led government first came to power, nearly 900 appeals filed by the government against verdicts passed by Armed Forces Tribunals and high courts in favour of disabled soldiers were dismissed by the Supreme Court.
The following year, then defence minister Manohar Parrikar constituted a high-level committee to examine service and pension-related grievances of military personnel, in order to minimise litigation.
This panel, the Committee of Experts, in turn came down heavily on the litigation initiated by the ministry and defence services against their own serving and former employees. It recommended withdrawal of appeals in all matters settled by the high courts and Supreme Courts, especially those involving disabled soldiers.
The committee, at the time, asked the defence ministry to be sensitive towards the needs of veterans and established links between the stress of military service resulting in aggravation of disabilities among soldiers and its effect on their mental health.
Based on the committee’s recommendations, Parrikar issued orders to the defence ministry to not challenge pensionary matters already settled in favour of disabled soldiers by the courts.
In February 2019, a high-level committee of the law ministry took note of the defence ministry’s filing of appeals against disabled soldiers in the Supreme Court and directed their withdrawal. Then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman directed the withdrawal of appeals that same month.
Last year, in March, the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure over the Centre filing appeals against disability pensions awarded to military personnel, even in matters that have been settled, reiterating its earlier stand.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)