Chandigarh, August 24
In two separate scathing indictments, the Chandigarh and Kochi benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) have taken the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to task for misleading various courts with outdated rules and for not placing actual facts before the judicial fora. This had led to verdicts based on inapplicable provisions of law.

The Kochi Bench, in its judgement made available here has held that in rulings rendered by the Supreme Court rejecting the grant of disability pension, the Centre did not bring to the court’s notice the changes made in rules in 1982. The changes had shifted the onus of proving disability pension entitlement from the claimant to the government.

The bench, while disposing off the case of Nair MP vs UOI, observed that instead, rules of 1949 were placed before the court. “It was “very unfortunate that a person who had dedicated his life for the country was not getting his due on account of the fact that applicable rules were not brought to the notice of the court or the AFT,” the apext court ruled.