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Ex. Lt. Col. R.K. Rai v. Union of India & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 163Decided 16 Feb 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 3101-3102 of 2015
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

The appellant, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Regiment of Artillery, fell ill in 1987 and was later found to be suffering from hypertension aggravated by the stress and strain of military service. After taking premature retirement in 2003, his Release Medical Board in 2004 assessed his disability at 30%, but the Armed Forces Tribunal rejected his claim for disability pension on the ground that officers who take voluntary retirement are not entitled to it, and also rejected his review application.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the Medical Board's own findings, which clearly recorded that the appellant's hypertension was aggravated by military service and assessed at 30%, a permanent disability, and noted that a Government Order dated 19 May 2017 extended disability pension benefits to pre-2006 retirees who met three conditions: the disability was attributable to or aggravated by service, no lump-sum compensation had been taken in lieu of it, and the disability was still assessed at 20% or more. Finding that the appellant satisfied all three conditions (accepting his statement that he had not taken lump-sum compensation), the Court held he was fully covered by the 2017 Government Order and allowed the appeals, setting aside the Tribunal's orders and directing the respondents to process his disability pension claim accordingly, while leaving it open to the authorities to re-assess the disability percentage through a fresh Medical Board in future. A separate claim for "AGI Disability" was left open for the appellant to pursue via a review petition before the Tribunal, since it had not actually been pressed earlier.

Lesson Learnt

A service member's own entitlement to disability pension turns on the Medical Board's factual findings on attributability/aggravation and percentage of disability, not merely on the mode of retirement (voluntary vs. otherwise): a later, more favourable government policy can still apply to pre-existing retirees who meet its specific conditions.

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

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