New Delhi: Chetan Choudhary had a dream of serving in the Indian Army as an officer. He cleared the tough selection process and joined the Officers Training Academy (OTA) at Gaya in January 2015. However, his dreams were dashed in April of the same year when he experienced a brain haemorrhage during a boxing match at the academy. The incident resulted in a year-long coma and left him disabled for life.
After having undergone multiple surgeries, eight years later, Choudhary today is undergoing physiotherapy sessions along with medication. He is also pursuing a Masters in Psychology through distance learning from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).
Choudhary is among hundreds such officer trainees who have been injured and boarded out on medical grounds during their training in various academies across India. According to the data compiled by the ministry of defence (MoD) and seen by ThePrint, the number of cadets boarded out between 1985 and 2020 is around 450.
These trainees, who had hoped to join the armed forces, now face a bleak future with no disability pension, no ex-servicemen status, and no protection under the law.
Officer trainees are selected after a rigorous selection process of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and other written exams followed by a week-long Services Selection Board (SSB) interview.
The story of these officer trainees reveals the stark contrast between the treatment given to them and the recruits who train to be sepoys, airmen and sailors. While the recruits are entitled to a disability pension if they get injured during training, the officer trainees are only given a meagre ex gratia of Rs 9,000 per month and a monthly disability award of Rs 16,200 for 100 per cent disability.
The officer trainees are also denied the benefits of being ex-servicemen, as their training is not counted as service. They are not covered by the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, 2016, as they are considered armed forces personnel by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). However, they are not granted disability pensions, as they are not commissioned officers.
According to Ankur Chaturvedi, a former officer trainee who was boarded out in 1995 and now works in the corporate sector, “both ways, officer trainees are being denied their dues”.
This paradox has left many such officer trainees in limbo, struggling to cope with their physical, mental and financial challenges. Some of them have taken up the fight for justice, demanding a disability pension and recognition for their sacrifice.
One such person is Jaya Shubhey Madan — wife of a disabled cadet who died a few years after being boarded out — who approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2020 for the family pension, but her request was rejected by the Union of India. ThePrint has a copy of the affidavit submitted by Madan in court.
The court passed an order in August 2020, which ThePrint has seen, asking her to approach the military authorities and directing them to decide in four weeks. Since no action was taken, Madan filed a contempt of court case this year in February. The Union of India ended up rejecting her request for the family pension, the court order said.
Meanwhile, considering the situation, the defence ministry did set up a committee of experts in 2015 headed by then defence minister Manohar Parrikar to look into the issue of disability pensions for cadets, but the recommendations failed to fructify.
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Demand for disability pension
A near-total absence of a disability pension has been cause for worry among boarded-out officer trainees.
These officer trainees, who are injured during training and boarded out on medical grounds, receive a monthly ex gratia of Rs 9,000. This is not a pension and cannot be transferred to their families if they die. It is paid from defence estimates under a Pension Payment Order (PPO), according to the 7th pay circular seen by ThePrint.
In addition, they are given a disability award of Rs 16,200 for 100 per cent disability. This amount is reduced according to the percentage of disability, according to Madan’s affidavit.
Both the ex gratia amount and the disability award are lower than the minimum defence pension of Rs 18,000, the affidavit said.
Moreover, in case a cadet dies during training, the families are extended only an ex gratia of Rs 9,000, Chaturvedi told ThePrint. At the time of admission, the families are also required to take an undertaking admitting that the responsibility of the cadet will not lie with the government, he added.
The reason for this disparity for medically boarded-out officer trainees is that their training is not counted as service, and they are not given the ex-servicemen status or the benefits that come with it. An armed forces officer’s service is counted from the date of commission post the completion of the training. Disability pension is, however, granted to a commissioned officer even if disabled on the first day of service.
“When we ask for disability pension, the MoD does not accept officer trainees as armed forces personnel. However, if officer trainees are not armed forces personnel, then they should be given protection under the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, 2016. And if they are armed forces personnel, they should be given the disability Pension,” said Chaturvedi.
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Boarded-out officer trainees vs recruits
There is a huge difference between the treatment given to the officer trainees and the recruits who get injured and boarded out during their training.
Officer trainees are not extended any disability pension, while recruits training to be sepoy, airman and sailor are provided with a disability pension.
Though the officer trainees are training for a Group A post and a recruit for a Group C post, on being disabled and boarded out, the former gets a much lower payout. For example, for 20 per cent disability, a boarded-out recruit gets Rs 18,000 and an officer cadet gets Rs 12,240, ThePrint has learnt.
In addition, recruits are extended free medical treatment for themselves and dependents for life at service hospitals or through the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), while the officer trainees do not.
In the case of rehabilitation and employment, too, recruits are covered under various central and state government schemes, while the officer trainees are not.
The disparity continues in case of death after boarding out. Widows of recruits get Rs 9,000 per month, while the widows of officer trainees are not compensated.
According to Chaturvedi, the financial evaluation of the total outflow for implementing disability pension for officer trainees was calculated by the department of finance to be only Rs 1.3 crore. He claimed that the proposal for disability pension had been sent to the MoD 11 times to date by the Service Headquarters (all three services together). But there has been no reaction from the ministry on this, he added.
Meanwhile, in 2021, the Army, Navy and Air Force proposed that amendments be made to the pension regulation to provide disability pensions to disabled cadets, which would include officer trainees.
Chaturvedi told ThePrint, in 2021, service headquarters had recommended a line to be inserted in case of calculation for benefits for officer trainees boarded out on medical grounds with attributable injury — “It would be assumed that the injury happened on the first month of service and appropriate compensation be paid.”
This proposal was also approved by the Judge and Advocate General (JAG) of the three forces he said, however, “the Department of ex-servicemen (Welfare) did not agree,” he added.
Since he was boarded out in 1995, Chaturvedi has reached out to various others like him, supporting them financially and helping them come up with future plans. According to him, most of the boarded-out officer trainees can be fit for civilian employment. “There are a number of Group A posts for defence civilians. Boarded-out officer trainees can thus be absorbed into these positions. Instead of denying jobs due to minor ailments, they can be accommodated in jobs that do not require much stress and strain,” he added.
Expert committee recommendation
The Ministry of Defence set up a committee of experts in 2015 to look into the issue of disability pensions for cadets. The committee, headed by Parrikar, recommended that the cadets should be granted disability pensions, as denying them would lead to unnecessary litigation.
In a review meeting the same year, Parrikar instructed the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (DESW) to implement it.
The report prepared in 2015, accessed by ThePrint, said, “Cadets who are disabled with an attributable/aggravated disability and boarded out of training academies are granted a disability pension, which is surprisingly not called ‘pension’ but termed as a monthly “ex gratia” award. This inane nomenclature has been conceptualised so that such cadets could be prohibited from falling within the category of ‘ex-servicemen’ (since all disability pensioners are termed as ex-servicemen as per DoPT rules) and are unable to avail all such facilities that are available to pensioners.”
“It is yet another matter of concern that this above pension (called ex gratia) to cadets, who are trainees for Group A gazetted-level commissioned officer appointments are granted this pension (monthly ex gratia), which is lower than even a recruit training to be Group C level sepoy,” the report highlighted.
The report also stated that all trainees of the CAPFs (Central Armed Police Force) of all levels, including officers, are also authorised a proper disability pension if disabled during training.
Slamming the non-inclusion of cadets under the Service Acts, the report said, “The artificial distinction put forth that such cadets are not under the Service Acts unlike recruits is an absurd proposition since it is just a self-invented way to refuse benefits since no external agency has cited this reason and it just a creation of fertile minds to deny benefits.”
ThePrint accessed a letter drafted by the DESW in November 2018 titled ‘Provision of Disability Pension to the Medically Boarded Cadets’, which was drafted following the recommendations of Army Headquarters after due deliberations and confirmation from all stakeholders.
The Army Headquarters is known to renew the proposal every few months in giving the boarded cadets their dues. However, the 2018 letter drafted and ready to resolve the matter was not signed by DESW, who is the final authority to grant the disability pension.
A Minutes of Meeting of 2022, accessed by ThePrint quoted the DESW secretary as saying, “This issue has been pending since long without arriving at a final conclusion.”
He stated that the “extant policies do not allow disability pension to such cadets. Before joining the service, the cadets are well aware of the service conditions.” He even mentioned that the government “is kind by granting them a monthly payout by way of monthly ex gratia awards and disability awards” and that “it is not feasible to consider granting disability pension”.
He further requested the services not “move the file time and again to DESW”. “The matter may be treated as closed,” the secretary said.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)