Can’t deny disability pension without medical board’s explicit finding: Punjab and Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made a landmark ruling regarding disability pension for military personnel. Essentially, the court stated that disability pension cannot be denied unless the medical board at the time of enlistment explicitly records that a pre-existing medical condition renders an individual unfit for military service.

Referring to the importance of the medical assessment at the time of induction, the bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma also made it clear that a mere pre-existing condition would not automatically disqualify a person from disability pension. This was unless the board explicitly determined that the deterioration was neither caused nor aggravated by military service.

The bench also asserted a disease would not be considered to have arisen during service if the medical board concluded that it could not have been detected during the individual’s initial medical examination before enlistment. However, in such cases, the medical board must provide specific reasons for reaching this conclusion.

“If the medical opinion holds that the disease could not have been detected on medical examination of the concerned being made prior to his being enlisted in service, the same will not be deemed to have arisen during service. In such a situation, the medical board is required to state the reasons for so concluding,” the bench asserted.

The ruling came a petition filed against the Union of India and other respondents by a former military personnel who challenged the denial of his disability pension through counsel Sandeep Bansal. The petitioner had argued that his health had worsened during service, entitling him to pension benefits. But the medical board had determined that the deterioration was due to a congenital condition, unrelated to his duties.

Relying on legal precedents and regulations governing the grant of disability pensions, the court allowed the petition. “The impugned order is quashed and set aside but with a direction to the respondents concerned, to process the disability pension case of the petitioner in terms of the verdict rendered by the apex court…,” the bench concluded.