Decorated Colonel fought cancer while in service, his wife now battles for special family pension

Tribune News Service

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, March 11 

For several years she helped her husband, a battle-decorated Special Forces officer, combat cancer, despite which he continued to serve, but is now waging a different battle for grant of special family pension after he succumbed to the disease.

The officer, a Colonel at the time of his demise, was commissioned into the Special Forces in June 2002. While in service, he was diagnosed with ‘Metastatic Osteosarcoma with Lung Metastases’ in July 2018 and the cancer aggressively spread within a short period.

The medical authorities had to amputate his right hand to limit the spread of the disease further. Unfortunately, he could not recover and died in April 2020 as a result of the said disability, which was declared ‘neither attributable to nor aggravated by the military authorities’.

In a petition filed before the Armed Forces Tribunal, the Colonel’s widow said that he was in top medical and physical condition at the time of joining. He had excelled in basic as well as commando training, where he was awarded the Dagger. He served extensively in field areas all throughout his service and was decorated with the Shaurya Chakra for his daring and courageous action in Kashmir during counter-insurgency operations.

“After detection of the deadly disease, he volunteered to get his right hand amputated to limit the spread of the disease further, while continuing to serve with his elite unit. Despite being diagnosed with cancer, he remained steadfast in fulfilling his duties, refusing to let his disability stop him from doing what he loved,” the petitioner avers.

“Despite the odds being stacked against him, he continued to fight on, never giving up hope, until the disease ultimately claimed him. The fact that he continued to perform his duties despite being diagnosed with cancer goes to show how the disease was directly affected by service conditions,” she added.

However, despite the husband of the petitioner incurring the disability in service and his resultant death thereof, the petitioner was not granted special family pension. In fact, the petitioner has been granted only ordinary family pension, the petition states. Special family pension, which is higher than ordinary pension, is entitled in cases where death is attributable to military service.

“A perusal of the Guide to Medical Officers would show that on the basis of medical research, it has been clearly documented that contrary to what was believed in the past; all cancers are affected by military service and service-related diet, exercise, etc. and that stress and strain of military service have direct linkage with cancer,” the petitioner contended.

“Cancer is also considered connected with service with a person who has even in the past served in any operational area. There is also a ‘negative’ list of cancers which are not considered attributable or aggravated by service and the cancer of the late officer does not fall in the said list,” she added.

Claiming that the disability had been incorrectly declared as ‘neither attributable to nor aggravated by service’ in a casual manner without providing any justifiable reason as to how it was not connected to service, she added that the Entitlement Rules clearly provide that the benefit of attributability or aggravation has to go to the claimant.

The individual shall not be asked to prove his entitlement and that reasons are to be recorded to rebut claims of attributability. Furthermore, if the disability or disease has an ‘unknown’ cause, then it falls within the four corners of attributability as per relevant provisions of the Entitlement Rules, she averred.

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