The Supreme Court ruled that a generous view must be taken in disability pension cases. It granted relief to a soldier discharged without proper medical reasoning.
New Delhi: Today, On May 8 The Supreme Court of India has recently ruled in favor of an ex-army personnel who was suffering from Schizophrenia, granting him disability pension.
The court said that laws made for the benefit of people, especially in such cases, should be understood and applied in a liberal and helpful manner.
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The judges emphasized that when a person is removed from service due to health issues, the Medical Board must give full and proper reasons in their report.
In this case, the report did not explain why the army man was discharged, which the court found to be unfair.
The case came before a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which included Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh.
They made it clear that the army authorities must give clear reasons whenever a soldier is found unfit for service, especially if the soldier is being denied benefits like disability pension.
The court said,
“a liberal approach must be adopted while construing beneficial provisions.”
This means that whenever the rules are made to help someone, they should be applied in a friendly and kind-hearted way, not strictly or harshly.
In this case, the army man was suffering from Schizophrenia—a serious mental illness—but was denied disability pension after being removed from service.
The reason given was based only on a medical report that did not contain any detailed explanation or justification.
The court strongly criticized this and said,
“the decision of the authority to discharge a serviceman is based on a medical report which is devoid of reasons.”
It noted that the Medical Board plays an important role in such matters, and if it does not explain its reasons properly, then the serviceman’s rights could be affected unfairly.
The bench further stated,
“the requirement to give reasons by the Medical Board is crucial, critical, decisive and necessary for granting or denying disability pension.”
This means that without giving proper reasons, no decision should be taken regarding whether a person should get disability pension or not.
By granting the disability pension to the ex-army man, the Supreme Court has sent a strong message that the rights of the soldiers must be protected and that the process must be fair and transparent.
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This decision is likely to help many other servicemen and ex-servicemen who are facing similar issues with their medical discharge and pension claims.
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