An army personnel is not entitled to any "disability pension" benefit if the said disability is not attributable to the military service rendered, the Supreme Court has said.
Such a benefit can be claimed by an Army personnel only if the disability was aggravated while rendering the military service or was attributable to the service rendered, a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and J M Panchal has ruled.
The apex court passed the ruling while upholding the appeal filed by the Union Government challenging the orders passed by the Rajasthan High Court for granting "disability pension" to Surinder Singh Rathore, who was working as a Signal Man in the Army and discharged from service due to failing vision.
Earlier, a single judge bench and a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court had ordered the Government to pay "disability pension" to Rathore despite the fact that the medical board constituted by the Defence Ministry had rejected his plea.
In May 1993, Rathore was released from service by the Army authorities after it was detected that he was suffering from "Maculapathy (RT) Eye"-a condition in which a person's vision starts diminishing. His disability was assessed at 30.
He was released from service on the basis of the report submitted by the "Release Medical Board" which however opined that the disability was "neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service."
SC's ruling on disability pension for Army personnel
Comment: Signalman Surinder Singh Rathore had to wrestle and battle for 15 years through cobweb of laws and red- tapism to get a final verdict/ ruling. I am sure the recently constituted Army Tribunal will be able to dispose off cases at a faster pace.
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