Ex. Gnr. Laxmanram Poonia (Dead) Through LRs. v. Union of India & Ors.
Background
The appellant, enrolled in the Indian Army in 2005, developed an acute schizophrenia-like psychotic disorder after being repeatedly subjected to overwork and continuous night duty, leading to multiple hospitalisations. An Invaliding Medical Board assessed his disability at 60% for life but classified it as a "constitutional" condition unconnected to military service, so he was invalided out of service without disability pension, and both the pension authority and the Armed Forces Tribunal rejected his claim. He appealed to the Supreme Court; he passed away during the pendency of the appeal, and his legal heirs were substituted in his place.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that since there was no evidence the appellant suffered from any pre-existing mental illness at the time of joining the Army, a presumption of soundness applied, and it was for the Medical Board, not the applicant, to prove the disability predated his service, which it failed to do by not even examining his service records. Applying its earlier rulings in Dharamvir Singh and Rajbir Singh, the Court held that where the Medical Board does not properly justify finding no connection to service, a causal link between the disability and service conditions must be presumed. It therefore set aside the Tribunal's order and allowed the appeal, directing payment of disability pension to the appellant's widow and other legal heirs within eight weeks.
Lesson Learnt
A soldier is legally presumed medically fit at the time of enlistment, and the burden falls on the military/pension authorities, not the soldier or his family, to prove with proper evidence that a disability pre-existed service; if they fail to discharge that burden, the disability is presumed to be service-related and a pension claim survives even after the soldier's death, passing to his heirs.