High Court affirms Army man’s right to full disability pension

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that arrears of disability pension for retired armed forces personnel cannot be limited to three years from filing the plea, especially when the delay in granting the pension is attributable to the authorities and not the claimant.

Allowing the writ petition of a retired Army personnel, the Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma made it clear that pensionary benefits were a right and should not be curtailed due to administrative lapses.

The matter was placed before the Bench after the petitioner challenged the decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), which had limited the arrears of his disability pension to three years from the filing of plea. The tribunal had cited a Supreme Court ruling that restricted the relief of arrears to three years in case of a delayed claim.

The petitioner argued that the delay in processing his pension was not due to his inaction, but due to the authorities’ failure to act in time. Taking up the petition filed against the Union of India and other respondents by the official, the Bench referred to judgment while observing that the restriction of arrears to three years did not apply to cases where the delay was attributable to the authorities and not to the pensioner.

The Bench observed the pensioner’s right to pension was a continuing one and could not be curtailed arbitrarily. Referring to the facts of the case in hand, the court observed that the delay was entirely attributable to the authorities.

“The court finds merit in the writ petition and the same is allowed. The relevant part of the impugned order qua restricting the arrears of pension up to three years since the filing of the petition, is quashed and set aside. The petitioner is declared to become entitled to the fullest complement of disability pension from the date whereon the same accrued to him in terms of the opinion of the medical board, along with interest at 7 per cent per annum,” the Bench said.