Widow gets pension 33 years after soldier’s discharge; AFT imposes Rs 5 lakh costs for harassment
Gunner Darshan Singh was invalided out of service in April 1993 after being declared medically unfit due to disabilities attributable to military service
More than 33 years after a soldier was invalided out of service on medical grounds, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has granted his widow lifetime pensionary benefits along with arrears with effect from 1993.
Observing that the widow had been unnecessarily harassed and denied her rightful claim for which the authorities must compensate her adequately, the Tribunal’s Chandigarh Bench, comprising Justice Sudhir Mittal and Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, also imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh on the officials concerned for denial of lifetime arrears and for delay in grant of ordinary family pension.
The soldier, Gunner Darshan Singh, was invalided out of service in April 1993 on account of physical disabilities after rendering service of a little over nine years’ service. The disability was held attributable to military service.
No disability benefits were granted him and he approached the AFT seeking service element of pension with effect from 1993, which were granted to him in 2012, though the arrears were restricted to three years.
Despite the AFTs’ orders, service element was not granted by the pension authorities on the grounds that he had not completed 10 years of service. He passed away in November 2011 before his case was decided by the AFT. “The same, however, does not make any difference so far as the entitlement of service element was concerned,” the Bench said.
The widow’s counsel contended that her late husband entitled to grant of service element and she was entitled to grant of family pension after his death. The same has been rejected on account of irrelevant reasons, he argued.
The Bench pointed out that the order of the court has not been implemented even after a lapse of 14 long years and the Artillery Records had rejected the claim for pension over frivolous reasons which have no legal sanctity whatsoever.
Further, the bench observed that the authorities have submitted that the case of the widow for grant of family pension was processed in the year 2022 which showed that they accept that she is entitled to grant of ordinary family pension because her husband was entitled to service element of pension.
