Roles of medical boards can’t overrule each other: AFT
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 3
The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has held that the findings of a Medical Categorisation Board (MCB) cannot be displaced by a Release Medical Board (RMB) as both perform different functions under different circumstances.
The MCB is held to determine the level of physical and medical fitness of an individual and place him in the appropriate medical category during service, which has an implication on a person’s employability and future promotions, while the RSB is held at the time of leaving service to assess the individual’s medical condition.
A soldier placed in permanent low medical category since 2014 on account of asthma was order to be discharged from service in June 2023. The RMB found that he did not suffer from any impairment and accordingly, he made a representation that he be retained in service, which was rejected.
In his petition before the Armed Forces Tribunal, he contended that once it has been found by the medical authorities that he does not suffer from any impairment, there was no hindrance in retaining him in service.
The AFT’s Chandigarh Bench comprising Justice Sudhir Mittal and administrative member Rasika Chaube observed that there was no dispute that the petitioner was in a permanent low medical category and after his medical category was downgraded in 2014, he had been subjected to periodic re-categorisation by the medical board.
The finding of the RMB that he does not suffer from any impairment is based on the physical condition at the time of examination. However, the same cannot prevail over the findings of the MCB. “This is because RMB and MCB perform different functions and different parameters are taken into consideration by each of them,” the Bench said.
The Bench also observed that physical impairment is dependent on environmental conditions. When experiencing adverse environmental conditions, a patient is likely to exhibit symptoms.
Accordingly, even if the petitioner was found to be fit at the time of RMB, it does not imply that the medical category had been upgraded. “Thus, even if RMB is taken into consideration, it would not result in displacing the MCB,” the Bench ruled.
What the bench said
The AFT’s Chandigarh Bench observed that the finding of the Release Medical Board that he does not suffer from any impairment is based on the physical condition at the time of examination. However, the same cannot prevail over the findings of the Medical Categorisation Board. “This is because RMB and MCB perform different functions and different parameters are taken into consideration by each of them,” the Bench said.
