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Ex-Hav Ashok Kumar v. Union of India & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 809Decided 24 Jul 2019
Civil Appeal Diary No. 6278 of 2019
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

The appellant, a Havildar in the Indian Army, completed his original 24-year tenure and was granted a two-year service extension. During this extended tenure, he suffered a stroke and was downgraded to a permanent low medical category with 80% disability, leading to his discharge. The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) granted him disability pension and, on review, allowed rounding off of his disability percentage from 80% to 100%. He separately sought Rs. 9,00,000 in ex-gratia compensation under a 2011 policy circular, which the AFT rejected on procedural, limitation, and merits grounds, prompting this appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the governing Pension Regulations and the 2011 ex-gratia policy circular and held that while the appellant was entitled to disability pension, because Regulation 173-A deems a person discharged on medical downgrading during extended service to be "invalidated" from service for pension purposes, this deeming fiction could not be extended to the separate ex-gratia compensation scheme. Ex-gratia compensation under the 2011 circular specifically required that a person be boarded out of service due to a disability or war injury attributable to or aggravated by military service, which was not the case here since his disability arose from a stroke unconnected to service, as the Release Medical Board itself had found. Since the appellant did not meet this threshold requirement, the Court held his claim for ex-gratia compensation could not be entertained and dismissed the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

Different welfare schemes for armed forces personnel can have different eligibility conditions even when they deal with related issues, qualifying for disability pension under one regulation does not automatically mean a person also qualifies for a separate ex-gratia compensation scheme with its own distinct requirements.

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

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