Punjab and Haryana High Court orders full disability pension for Army veteran

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted full disability pension benefits to Army veteran Gurcharan Singh, overturning a decision that initially denied him the service element of his pension. The bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma ruled that the veteran was entitled to both the disability and service elements of his pension, in line with regulations governing disability pensions for military personnel.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate GS Ghuman had contended that Gurcharan Singh, who joined the Army in January 1971, was invalided out of service in July 1978 due to neurosis (depressive reaction). Although his disability was assessed at 20 per cent, it was initially rejected for pension eligibility by the competent authority, which determined that the disability was not attributable to or aggravated by his military service. He, subsequently, challenged this decision by filing an original application before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in 2016.

In December 2018, AFT ruled in his favour directing the release of disability pension arrears for the period from July 29, 1978 to July 28, 1980. The tribunal further instructed that his condition be re-assessed by a medical board, which later assessed his disability at 40 per cent for life, effective from July 30, 1980. Based on this re-assessment, Singh was granted a disability pension at 40 per cent rate, which later increased to 50 per cent from January 1, 2016, pursuant to a Supreme Court’s decision

Ghuman argued that the petitioner, in addition to the disability element, was also entitled to the service element of the disability pension under Regulation 183 of the Pension Regulations for the Army, 1961. The regulation provides that individuals who have not served long enough to qualify for a service pension are entitled to a service pension equivalent to two-thirds of the minimum service pension admissible for their rank. Singh sought the correction of the Pension Payment Order (PPO) to include the service element from July 30, 1978 for life.

The bench agreed with Ghuman’s submissions, while asserting that a veteran, who had been invalided out of service due to disability, was entitled to both the service and disability elements of the pension under the relevant regulations.

The bench asserted that his disability had been deemed attributable to his military service, as per the earlier ruling by AFT, which remained unchallenged. The court affirmed that once the disability was recognised as service-related, he was entitled to the service element of the pension.

Before parting with the order, the bench made it clear that the service element of disability pension would be granted from July 1980 for life and disability element at 40 per cent till December 31, 1995. It will be increased to 50 per cent from January 1, 1996, for life. The judgment is significant as the court has upheld disability pension benefits in its entirety.