In a significant legal development, the Delhi High Court has imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Indian Navy. This fine arises from their decision to appeal a ruling made by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) regarding disability pensions, despite the legal benchmarks having already been established by the Supreme Court.
The case concerns a former navy Commander, AK Srivastava, who had been awarded a disability pension by the AFT based on a precedent set by the Supreme Court. The highest court of the land had previously determined that the benefit of doubt regarding disability claims should be extended to medical conditions that arise during military service. This guideline stipulates that unless there is clear evidence of a pre-existing condition, which would have been detectable prior to entry into service, service-related disabilities must be considered for pension benefits.
On November 12, a bench of the Delhi High Court, consisting of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur, dismissed the writ petition submitted by the Navy and the MoD. The bench had issued a stern warning to the Ministry of Defence as early as October, indicating that any continued challenges to orders that are already supported by prior judgments could incur substantial costs, highlighting concerns over the wastage of public funds and court resources.
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This instance is not an isolated case in the ongoing legal confrontations faced by the MoD in similar matters. The Ministry has been penalized for its aggressive litigation tactics in the past, notably in 2017 when the Supreme Court levied a fine of Rs 1 lakh for contesting AFT rulings on disability pensions granted to service members. Moreover, in 2022, the Supreme Court conveyed its dissatisfaction with the MoD’s persistent litigation efforts.
In recent times, additional High Courts—including those in Kerala and Punjab and Haryana—have also dismissed multiple appeals from the defence services and the MoD, further underscoring a trend of judicial disapproval of the Ministry’s handling of disability pension cases. The culmination of these developments suggests a pressing need for the MoD to reassess its litigation strategy regarding service personnel benefits, particularly in light of established judicial precedents that support the rights of individuals like Commander AK Srivastava.
