Supreme Court grants lifelong 50% disability pension to ex-soldier Bijender Singh, invalided in 1989 due to seizures. Court slams Army for denying rightful benefits and sets aside AFT’s orders.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India has told the Indian Army to give disability pension and past dues to a soldier who was removed from duty 36 years ago because he suffered from seizures.
The judgment was given by a Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan. The Court said that the Army must give Bijender Singh the disability part of the pension at the rate of 50%, starting from January 1996, and continue it for the rest of his life.
“The arrears shall carry interest at the rate of 6% per annum till payment. The above directions shall be carried out by the respondents within three months from today,”
-the Court ordered.
Bijender Singh told the Court that he began getting seizures after being posted to the very tough and high-altitude area of Siachen Glacier.
The Supreme Court made it clear again that the confidence and morale of the soldiers must be completely protected. The Court explained that if a soldier gets injured during duty and does not get proper compensation or help, it can badly affect the morale of the armed forces.
The Court also said that the law clearly states that if a person did not have a disease when he joined the army, and there is no medical report saying otherwise at the time of joining, then it should be believed that the disease happened because of army service.
“Therefore, the burden of proving that the disease is not attributable to or aggravated by military service rest entirely on the employer. Further, any disease or disability for which a member of the armed forces is invalided out of service would have to be assumed to be above 20% and attract grant of 50% disability pension,”
-the Court underscored.
Bijender Singh had earlier gone to the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) after the Army refused to give him disability pension. But the Tribunal had rejected his request. Singh then came to the Supreme Court.
He had joined the Indian Army in 1985. But just four years later, in 1989, he was removed from service because he got a disease called “generalized tonic clonic seizure old 345 V-67“.
Singh argued that when he joined the Army, he was perfectly healthy. He said that he got this illness while doing duty in the freezing heights of Siachen Glacier between May 1988 and September 1988.
However, the Army’s medical board said that his disease was not because of army duty. After that, three more re-survey medical boards were held in 1992, 1998, and 2002. These boards said his disability was between 15% to 19% and that he was permanently disabled.
After his removal from service, Singh filed a case in the AFT, but in 2016, the Tribunal rejected his claim. He even filed a review application, but that was also dismissed in 2018.
In its judgment, the Supreme Court noted that the AFT had simply accepted what the Army medical boards had written. The Tribunal did not properly check whether Singh’s disability was actually caused or made worse by army service.
The Court also said that the disease Singh was removed for was not there when he joined the Army.
“Thus having regard to the discussions made above, we are of the considered view that the impugned orders of the Tribunal are wholly unsustainable in law. That being the position, impugned orders dated 22.01.2018 and 26.02.2016 are hereby set aside,”
-the Court ordered.
This judgment is a big relief for Bijender Singh and sets a strong example for how soldiers who get sick or injured during service should be treated with fairness and respect.
CASE TITLE:
Bijender Singh v Union of India & Ors
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