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Sulekha Rani v. Union of India

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 769Decided 16 Jul 2019
Civil Appeal No. 1280 of 2019
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

The appellant's husband, an Army soldier posted at the Siachen Glacier, was downgraded to a low medical category and later discharged from service in 2001 without ever being examined by an Invalidation Medical Board, despite having been fit (SHAPE 1) before his posting. He died about six years after discharge, and when the appellant (his widow) sought family pension, the Armed Forces Tribunal rejected her claim.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that under the applicable Army Rules, a discharge on grounds connected to medical unfitness can only be ordered on the recommendation of a duly constituted Invalidation Medical Board: a procedural safeguard that was never followed here, despite the respondents trying to justify the discharge under a residuary "all other classes of discharge" rule that does not apply when medical unfitness is actually the real ground. Because this mandatory procedure was skipped, the discharge was held illegal. The Court directed that for pension purposes, the husband's service be treated as having continued until his death in 2007 (though without back pay for the intervening years), entitling the widow to family pension computed on that basis.

Lesson Learnt

When a member of the armed forces is discharged for medical reasons, the law requires a proper Invalidation Medical Board examination, skipping this safeguard can make the discharge itself illegal, which matters greatly for the family's later pension rights.

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

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