Chandigarh: Don’t file appeal in disability benefit cases, veterans urge Centre

Chandigarh, January 15

Veterans who lost their limbs in line of duty have urged the ministers of defence and law to withdraw the orders for filing appeals in court of law against judicial orders granting disability benefits to armed forces personnel.

In a letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, the Disabled War Veterans (India) has expressed concern over the massive litigation initiated by the Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare in almost all matters decided in their favour by the Armed Forces Tribunal.

The association has pointed out that in 2014, the Prime Minister had asked all government departments to curb litigation initiated by them after the Supreme Court had dismissed about a thousand appeals filed by the defence minister. Following this, high-level committees set up by the defence and law ministries had recommended the withdrawal of such appeals.

In 2019, the then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also issued orders to withdraw all such cases. However in 2023, the matter was re-opened by the defence ministry, which began filing appeals against AFT orders, even on issues that have been settled by the Supreme Court.