Smt Suman Devi wo late Sep Duli Chand (Army) vs UOI & Others on 23 July 2026

**ORDER**

**23.07.2026**

1. Under Section 14 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act 2007, the applicant has filed this OA praying for quashing and setting aside the Court of Inquiry dated 26/3/2007 supplied vide Order dated 28/1/2008 declaring as illegal, unjust and totally perverse and against the judicial pronouncement on the subject. She has also prayed for directing the Respondents to consider the claim of the applicant for grant of Special Family Pension from the date of death of her husband, ie, 26/3/2007 by treating the death of the husband of the applicant as attributable to military service and authorize her Special Family Pension alongwith arrears of pension.


2. Vide Reply Statement, the Respondents have stated that the husband of the applicant died on 26/3/2007 due to injuries that he had sustained in a road accident while he was on seven days casual leave wef 23 to 29/3/2007 granted by the 213 Transit Camp. As per Postmortem Report, the individual died due to shock brought about as a result of extensive chest injury associated with Head Injury and the Police report and investigation had not mentioned that the accident was cause by any individual or was due to his negligence. A court of inquiry was carried out by Station Headquarters, Alwar, Rajasthan, wherein the competent authority regarded the death of husband of the applicant as not attributable to military service, since he was not on duty in terms of Rule 12 (b) of Casualty Pensionary Awards 1982, Annexure R/1 and IHQ of MoD (Army) letter dated 20/7/2006, Annexure R/2. Claim of the applicant for grant of Special Family Pension was rejected and the applicant was granted Ordinary Family Pension. While the First Appeal of the applicant for grant of special family pension was considered by the competent authority and was rejected, the Second Appeal dated 31/5/2009 filed by the applicant is still under consideration with the competent authority.

3. When the matter was taken up for hearing today, Mr Satish Kumar Balwada, Advocate submitted that he has filed 'Vakalatnama' on behalf of the applicant and further made a prayer that the applicant is eligible for grant of relief as payed for in the OA in the light of the Order dated 28/4/2025 passed by the Lucknow Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal in OA No 672 of 2024 in the case of Ex Gdr. Girjesh Kumar Verma Vs UOI & Ors, a copy of which has also been placed on record.

4. We have heard the counsels for the parties and perused the material on record.


5. It is apparent from the material on record that husband of the applicant died at Jaipur on 26/3/2007 due to injuries that he had sustained in a road accident while he was on seven days casual leave wef 23-29/3/2007. The court of inquiry that had gone into circumstances under which husband of the applicant died considered the death of husband of the applicant as not attributable to military service as he died on 26/3/2007 occurred while he was on seven days Casual Leave wef 23/3/2007 to 29/3/2007. Applicant was granted Ordinary Family Pension and claim for grant of Special Family Pension was rejected by the competent authority as the Court of Inquiry that had gone into his death opined that since he was not performing any military duty and was on leave, the death was not attributable to military service.

6. Perusal of Order dated 28/4/2025 passed by the Lucknow Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal placed reliance by the counsel for the applicant reflects that the injury, "Fracture Neck of Femur (Rt)" sustained by the applicant therein was considered as attributable to military service, and the RMB assessed the disability, "Post Traumatic AVN (Rt) Hip Joint (Optd)" @40% for life and was also considered it as attributable to military service. However, the claim of the applicant was rejected by the PCDA (P) on the ground that the applicant therein sustained injury while he was on leave which does not come under the ambit of "duty", the decision of which was over turned by the Tribunal and disability element was granted to the applicant. Hence, this Order is quite distinct and is not relevant for the case at hand.

7. Though there was no causal connection of the death of the husband of the applicant with military service, as prayed for by the counsel for the applicant, we deem it appropriate that in case the applicant submits a fresh representation to the competent authority with the prayer for grant of Special Family Pension within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this Order, the competent authority shall decide the case and take a decision within a period of six months from the date of receipt of such a representation from the applicant. The outcome thereof shall be intimated to the applicant accordingly. Respondents are also directed to take a final decision on the Second Appeal submitted by the applicant if still pending with them.

- 8. The OA is disposed off accordingly. No order on costs.

- 9. Pending application, if any, also stands disposed off.

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**(SANJIV MITTAL)** **MEMBER (A)**

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**(GOVERDHAN BARDHAR)** **MEMBER (J)**

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