Disability pension only for armymen injured on duty, rules Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that armed forces personnel are entitled to disability pension only if the incident which resulted in the injury was at least remotely connected to his duty.

"There must be a reasonable nexus and at least a remote connection between the disability and the duty of the personnel at the relevant time to make him entitled for disability pension," ruled a bench of Justices T S Thakur and R Bhanumathi.

The ruling is significant as the Armed Forces Tribunal has been ordering disability pension for personnel incapacitated due to any accident, suffered while in service, and has rarely enquired if the incident which resulted in disability took place while discharging his or her duty.

The bench ruled this while quashing the Armed Forces Tribunal order four years ago directing disability pension to one Ex Naik Vijay Kumar, holding that the injury he suffered was not remotely connected to his job. The Centre had approached the apex court challenging the award to him.

Kumar who joined the Army in 1990 was on a 30-day leave in connection with his brother's marriage in 2005. During his stay at his sister's residence, he slipped while taking the stairs to the roof and sustained multiple injuries. He underwent four operations and was treated in military hospital for three to four months.

The Release Medical Board assessed his disability at 60 per cent. The respondent was invalidated from service in February, 2006 after completion of 17 years of service. He was paid monetary benefits apart from other benefits.

However, his disability pension claim was rejected by the Army stating that respondent's disabilities are neither attributable to nor aggravated due to military service.