An Armed forces tribunal (AFT) bench comprising of Justice Ghanshyam Prasad and Lt. Gen. Amrik Singh Bahia slapped a fine of Rs10,000 on Army head quarters for not complying with the directions issued by it, in a disability pension case.
The applicant Karamjit Singh moved AFT after he was denied disability pension on the pretext that he suffered injuries while he was on leave. Karamjit Singh was enrolled as a Sepoy in the Sikh Regiment of the Regular Indian Army on May 13, 1989 and after successful completion of the training was attested on May16, 1990.
Singh had proceeded on Annual Leave in the year 1995 when while on leave and going for some urgent work on 22.03.1995, he met with a road accident in which he sustained severe injuries. After the accident, Singh was brought before the Medical Board which found him to be suffering from disabilities. Singh after his accident and being placed in Low Medical classification has served for 9 years and out of these for 5 years in active filed duty for the performance of the arduous nature of military duties.
Karamjit Singh was invalided out of service with the statement that he was unlikely to improve and he was no longer fit to serve the Army. Later he was denied disability pension and his appeals were rejected on the ground that he had sustained injuries while on annual leave and hence these were not attributable to military service.
{{/usCountry}}Karamjit Singh was invalided out of service with the statement that he was unlikely to improve and he was no longer fit to serve the Army. Later he was denied disability pension and his appeals were rejected on the ground that he had sustained injuries while on annual leave and hence these were not attributable to military service.
{{/usCountry}}It was after his appeals were dismissed that Singh moved AFT where the bench on two different hearings directed the Army head quarters to calculate a fresh disability quotient for Karamjit Singh so that his disability pension can be calculated. The bench ruled out denying of pension if a disability was not acquired while on duty. The army however failed to comply with the directions of AFT which slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on it.