Supreme Court dismisses Union appeals on ex-servicemen's disability pension; 2008 rules largely track 1982 scheme

The Supreme Court dismissed a batch of appeals by the Union of India against orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal and several High Courts granting the disability element of pension to retired service personnel. In each case a Release Medical Board had found the disability neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service, but the Tribunal or High Court had held otherwise, applying the presumption in favour of the soldier recognised in Dharamvir Singh v. Union of India. The Court dismissed the appeals on delay as well as on merits, noting that most of the roughly 271 matters filed were time-barred. Comparing the Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pensionary Awards of 1982 and 2008, it held that the 2008 Rules substantially reproduce the earlier scheme of causal connection, onus and attributability, with one limited change.

Under the proviso to Rule 7, if a claim is made more than fifteen years after discharge, the burden shifts to the claimant to prove entitlement. It accepted the Attorney General's point that a Medical Board's opinion deserves due weight and should not be replaced merely because another view is possible. It directed tribunals to examine such opinions closely in pending cases. The Court also recorded its concern that the Union continued filing such appeals despite a 2015 Raksha Mantri committee report recommending their withdrawal.