Major gets pension after 27 years of retirement

Vijay Mohan/TNS Chandigarh, June 6
Twenty-seven years after he retired, a Major from the Territorial Army (TA) has been finally granted pension. Ruling that TA personnel shall be treated on a par with regular Army personnel for the purposes of pension, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has ruled. The tribunal has also ordered that the pension be paid from the date of retirement along with 12 per cent interest.

Major Hardev Singh Gill, a resident of Patiala, was commissioned into the TA in March, 1961. He superannuated in June, 1983, on attaining 50 years of age. He was denied pension on the grounds that his total qualifying service was about 16 years, which was less than the minimum required period of 20 years. Drawing reference to its earlier judgment on a similar issue, the tribunal observed that Regulation 292 of pension regulations stated, “The grant of pensionary awards to members of the Territorial Army shall be governed by the same general regulations as are applicable to the corresponding personnel of the Army except where they are inconsistent with the provisions of regulations in this chapter.”Late entrants into the Army are eligible for grant of full pension after 15 years of service, according to the policy letters issued on the subject by the Central Government.

In the case of Maj SD Sharma decided in February, on the basis of which Maj Gill’s petition was allowed last week, the tribunal observed relevant orders made it explicitly clear that TA persons would be governed by the necessary pensionary regulations that were applicable to the Army also and there were no two opinions in the matter nor any room for doubt.

The government orders dated October 30, 1987, for the implementation of the Fourth Central Pay Commission and February 3, 1998, for the implementation of the Fifth Central Pay Commission made it abundantly clear that that TA personnel would be governed by the Indian Army Pensionary Regulations for the purposes of working out their pensions, the tribunal ruled
Major gets pension after 27 years of retirement by Vijay Mohan/TNS