High Court upholds grant of disability benefits to woman Army officer

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the grant of benefits to a 100 per cent disabled woman officer, who had continued to serve in the Army despite suffering from serious kidney disorder, after holding that no credence could be given to the medical board’s decision since it was not supported by evidence and rules did not bar grant of benefits if disability was detected in a peace station.

Colonel Arpreeta Sachdeva, an officer who had also served near the Siachen Glacier Base Camp, had incurred chronic kidney disease and keratoconus and undergone a renal transplant, but was refused disability pension on retirement on the pretext that the disabilities had been detected while she was posted in a “peace area”.

Aggrieved by the rejection, she had approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), which had directed the government to grant her disability pension on the basis of multiple judgments of the Supreme Court.

Rather than releasing the benefits, the Army and the Ministry of Defence approached the High Court against the AFT orders but the division bench of Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Sudeepti Sharma upheld the AFT judgment.

In their detailed order of November 5, the Bench held that holding stereotypical statements that a disability is congenital or genetic without any evidence of antecedental family history would carry no weight and the benefit must go to the disabled soldier.

The Bench observed that incurrence of a disability in “peace” or “field” area had no linkage with disability pension and that there shall be no onus of proof on a soldier to prove his or her disability. A benefit of doubt needed to be extended to disabled soldiers that medical conditions arising during service are deemed to be related to service conditions, unless congenital or pre-existing.

In the recent months, high courts across the country have been flooded with cases filed by the Army and Defence Ministry against disabled soldiers, widows and other pensioners. The Punjab and Haryana High Court and also the Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh High Courts have dismissed a large number of such petitions in the past few months.

The Supreme Court in the past has also passed strictures against authorities for dragging disabled soldiers and pensioners to courts with litigation which has already been settled by the Supreme Court and High Courts.