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| HC decides disability pension case of Army Jawan after 32 yrs of his dismissal | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb17- Jammu and Kashmir State High Court today came to the rescue of an Army Jawan by holding him entitled to the disability pension and directed the respondent to release disability pension along with the arrears in favour of petitioner within period of three months. The petitioner Balwan Singh, who was enrolled in the army in the month of December 1973, was discharged from service in medical category in the year 1976 when he was posted at Tangdhar area of Kashmir which is situated at high altitude, his body could not adapt the climatic conditions and as result he suffered from mental disorder. He was treated in various Army hospitals and ultimately was boarded out of service being unfit.
The Petitioner seeking disability pension on various grounds filed this petition through Adv Surinder Kour in the year 2001 on the ground that at the time of his enrollment in army he was not suffering from any such disease and it was only after three years of his active service that he developed the said disease due to hazards of army service and was entitled to get the disability pension which was wrongly denied to him. On the other hand respondents in their counter sought dismissal of petition on the ground of delay and laches as the petition has been filed after 24 years of discharge of the petitioner from service.
Justice Nirmal Singh of J&K High Court Jammu Wing after hearing Advocate Surinder Kour appearing for the petitioner and Advocate Piyush Gupta appearing for the Union of India and referred various judgments of the Apex Court and in his approved for reporting judgment said that the stand of the respondents that the petition is highly belated cannot be accepted and allowed the petition and observed that disability of the petitioner "personality disorder" is held to be a disability which can occur due to hazards of army service and as there is nothing on record to show that the petitioner showed any signs of the said disability prior to his joining army service or even after three years of his enrollment, the same is held attributable to army service. The petitioner is held entitled to disability pension. The petitioner shall also be entitled to arrears of disability pension but taking into consideration that the petition has been filed after about 24 years of discharge of service, the claim of arrears is restricted to three years prior to filling of the writ petition. So far as the claim of the petitioner for grant of interest if concerned, the same is rejected, the Judge held. JNF
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