Soldiers’ commute to and from duty station deemed ‘on duty’ for disability benefits: AFT

About 20 years after a soldier was seriously injured in a road accident while returning to duty, the Armed Forces Tribunal has held that a journey from place of duty to home station and vice-versa while on leave is considered as on duty and an individual so affected is entitled to disability benefits even if he was using a private vehicle.

The soldier was enrolled in the Indian Army in December 1982, and while posted at Ambala, he took two days’ casual leave in June 2004. While leaving his village to rejoin duty, he met with an accident.

He was taken to Civil Hospital, Karnal, from where he was transferred to Military Hospital, Ambala, and thereafter referred to Command Hospital in Chandimandir. He underwent several surgical procedures for fixation of fracture, provision of skin cover and wound management.

The wound did not heal, and on account of persistent infection, he was referred to Artificial Limb Centre, Pune, in June 2005, where he was provided with support to enable him to walk. Medical records show that his leg was shortened by 1.5 cm and mobility of the ankle was restricted.

He was invalided out of service on medical grounds and his disability was assessed as 60 per cent for life but held to be neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service. A Court of Inquiry was also conducted, which opined that the accident took place on account of negligence of the driver of the motor vehicle with which the accident took place and that the injury is not attributable to military service. Thus, claim for grant of disability pension was rejected.

The AFT’s bench, comprising Justice Sudhir Mittal and Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, observed that the Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pensionary Awards state that a person will be treated to be on duty while proceeding to his leave station or returning to duty from his leave station provided the person was entitled to the travel at public expense.

“The intent behind the rule aforementioned is to treat journey from duty station to home station and from home station to duty station ‘as duty’. This is the major governing factor. Qualifying the same by travel in public transport, in our considered opinion, is arbitrary,” the bench ruled. It is also violative of the Article 14 of Constitution of India, they added.