Despatches from the Supreme Court

This month saw the Hon’ble Supreme Court deliberating some very important issues concerning veterans and their families. Here are the despatches :

Citation: Union of India Vs Jagdish Singh
The issue : The veteran was suffering from schizophrenia. The release medical board had declared it to be ‘neither attributable to, nor aggravated by service’ and hence the disability pension claim was rejected. A Division Bench of the Hon’ble J & K High Court, after discussing various rules and regulations, however held that the former soldier was entitled to disability pension since as per rules the same was supposed to have been declared attributable / aggravated by the medical board. The Hon’ble Court also held that in accordance with rules, it is the State which has to rebut the presumption of attributability / aggravation and not the claimant. It was also re-iterated that as per rules, the claimant is not supposed to prove his entitlement.
Status : The Union of India had challenged the well reasoned judgement in the Hon’ble Supreme Court through an SLP. The SLP has been dismissed this month.

Citation : Union of India Vs Kashmiro Devi
The issue : The rules existing at the time of the cause of action in the petition provided that ordinary family pension was to be discontinued to a widow even in case she married the deceased soldier’s brother as per custom in some parts of the country, whereas there was no such bar in case of special family pension. The Hon’ble Delhi High Court, in a landmark judgement, however held that this distinction between the two types of pensions was discriminatory and the pension could not be discontinued even in the case of ordinary family pension.
Status : The Union of India challenged the socially sensitive judgement before the Hon’ble Supreme Court through an SLP. The SLP has been dismissed this month

Citation : Union of India Vs Honorary Captain Kirori Lal
The issue : This retired Hony Capt was being paid the disability element of a Havildar and not of an Hony Capt on the pretext that he was a Havildar at the time of sustaining the disability. The Hon’ble Delhi High Court however held that the disability pension had to be calculated on the basis of the rank last held and not on the basis of the rank at the time of initial incurrence of disability.
Status : The Union of India challenged the well reasoned judgement before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The SLP was dismissed this month. Curiously, another SLP on the same issue was earlier dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the past but keeping in view the record of ‘fairness’ of pleadings of the Ministry of Defence before Hon’ble Courts, it can be safely concluded that the Hon’ble Supreme Court may not have been informed about the earlier dismissal on the same grounds.