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CPL Ashish Kumar Chauhan (Retd.) vs. Commanding Officer & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 857Decided 26 Sept 2023
Civil Appeal No. 7175 of 2021
S. Ravindra Bhat · Dipankar Datta

Background

The appellant, an IAF radar technician deployed during "Operation Parakram" in 2002, was given a blood transfusion at an unlicensed "ad-hoc" military blood bank while being treated for anemia. In 2014 he was diagnosed HIV-positive and traced it to that 2002 transfusion. Military Medical Boards in 2014-15 themselves found his condition "attributable to service" due to the transfusion, and the Air Force even certified this in writing in 2016, yet an internal Court of Inquiry later concluded there was no negligence, records of the original transfusion were said to be "destroyed," and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission dismissed his compensation claim for lack of expert evidence of negligence.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court, assisted by amici curiae after appointing them to help the unrepresented appellant, found the armed forces' own documented admissions, multiple Medical Board findings and an official 2016 letter certifying the HIV was service-attributable due to the transfusion, were binding admissions under Section 58 of the Evidence Act that did not need further proof, and could not be undone by a later, self-serving Court of Inquiry that excluded the appellant from its own proceedings. It found troubling inconsistencies: records claimed "destroyed" were nonetheless selectively produced when convenient, the ad-hoc blood bank had no licensed pathologist, and there was no evidence an ELISA/HIV screening test was actually performed on the transfused blood as required by protocol. Holding the Army and IAF vicariously liable, the Court awarded the appellant Rs. 1,54,73,000 in compensation plus Rs. 5,00,000 in costs, directed release of pending disability pension arrears, and (invoking the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017) issued a wide set of systemic directions to the Central and State Governments on HIV testing protocols, informed consent, workplace safety guidelines, and grievance mechanisms for HIV-affected persons generally.

Lesson Learnt

An institution's own official records and medical findings can amount to a binding admission of fault that a later self-conducted inquiry cannot simply overturn; and in HIV/medical negligence disputes, once a claimant shows a credible institutional admission of causation, the burden shifts to the institution to prove otherwise, not the other way around.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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