About 16 years after her husband was discharged from the Army because of a medical condition that later led to his death, the Supreme Court has finally upheld the orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) that had granted the due special family pension to the widow on account of her husband’s death from cancer, along with disability pension to the soldier for the duration he was alive after leaving the Army.
Tarsem Singh, belonging to a village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, was serving in the Mahar Regiment of the Indian Army when he was diagnosed with cancer. Despite chemotherapy, he continued to serve but when he was ultimately released from service, his disability pension was rejected on the grounds that his medical condition had been declared as “neither attributable to, nor aggravated by military service” by the Release Medical Board.
His widow approached the AFT citing law that if a disability is incurred during service, then it is deemed to be aggravated by military service because of the stressful conditions under which all soldiers serve.
She also cited the guidelines of the Army which themselves provide that all cancers are to be taken as “aggravated by service” unless the cancer is caused due to smoking or from a chromosomal abnormality.
Since her repeated representations were rejected by the Army, the AFT ultimately ruled that cancer incurred during service is to be deemed as aggravated by military service, thereby leading to the grant of disability pension to a soldier.
The AFT also cited rules which clearly provide that in case a disabled soldier dies within 10 years after his retirement, the widow is entitled to special family pension, which is higher than ordinary pension, since the death is then deemed to have occurred due to the same disability.
However, when the claim of the widow was allowed by the AFT, rather than implementing the judgment, which was based on existing rules, the Army and the Ministry of Defence challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court which dismissed the Union of India’s appeal last week.
Many judgments related to disability pension of soldiers and benefits of widows continue to be challenged by the Defence Ministry before the High Courts and the Supreme Court despite strictures by courts.
