AFT: No disability benefits for injury during leave

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has ruled that a disability resulting from an injury in a road accident during leave cannot be attributed to military service and, therefore, the individual concerned is not entitled to any consequential benefits.

Rejecting the claim of a soldier for disability pension, the tribunal observed that the activity in which the soldier had sustained injuries was not connected with his military duty in any manner as he was in his village on annual leave.

The soldier was riding a motorcycle near his village when he was hit by a jeep coming from the opposite side. Later, a Release Medical Board assessed his composite disability arising from different injuries as 40.5 per cent, but his disability was held as neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service.

He contended before the tribunal that as per law, if armed forces personnel suffer disability during the course of service, which was never reported earlier when they were enrolled/recruited, the said disabilities or injuries would be treated to be attributable to or aggravated by military service and they should be entitled to disability pension for the same.

He added that since the time of the accident and his discharge from service, the disability percentage of one of his injuries had increased marginally, which implied that it was aggravated by military service.

The tribunal, it its order last week, observed that there must be some causal connection between the injuries and military service. Unless the injuries sustained had causal connection with military service, armed forces personnel could not be allowed disability pension merely on the reasoning that disabilities or injuries were not reported or detected while being enrolled or commissioned.