Ex AC (UT) Ram Chandra Choudhary (Air Force) vs UOI & Others on 28 October 2025

**ORDER**

**28.10.2025**

1. By way of this Application under Section 14 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act 2007, the Applicant has filed this OA, praying for directing the Respondents for grant of Invalid Pension. He also prayed that the arrears of Invalid Pension may be restricted to three years prior to filing the OA and that the arrears be paid along with interest @ 9% per annum.

2. Brief facts of the case as enunciated by the Applicant are that the Applicant was enrolled in the Air Force on 02.01.2019. While undergoing basic military training, he suffered from food poisoning due to contamination in mess food for which he was admitted and treated in Station Medicare Centre and Military Hospital. Due to the infection and probably due to side effects of medicines, the Applicant suffered from Seizure Disorder for which he was again admitted and treated in Military Hospital. Consequent to diagnose of Seizure Disorder, the Applicant was invalided out of service on medical grounds. The duly constituted Release Medical Board assessed his disability @ 30% for life and opined the same as Neither Attributable to Nor Aggravated by Air Force Service (NANA) and the Applicant was invalidated out of Service on 06.08.2020 without any pensionary benefits. The Applicant submits that he joined the Air Force in physically and medically fit condition and he suffered from the disability due to consumption of contaminated food in mess, therefore, his disability ought to be considered as Attributable to Service thereby entitling him for grant of pensionary benefits. In support of his claim, the Applicant has placed reliance on Hon'ble Supreme Court judgments in the case of *Dharamvir Singh Vs UOI & Ors, (2013) 7 SCC 316 and Sukhvinder Singh Vs UOI & Ors, (2014) STPL 468 SC*. The Applicant further submitted that in terms of Govt of India, Ministry of Defence vide their letter No 12(06)/2019/D(Pen/Pol) dt 16.07.2020 have also clarified that the Armed Forces personnel who are invalidated out of service with less than ten years of qualifying service on account of any bodily or mental infirmity which is neither attributable to nor aggravated by service factors and which permanently incapacitate them from military service as well as civil re-employment are eligible for grant of Invalid Pension. First Appeal filed by the Applicant against non-grant of pensionary benefits was rejected by the Competent Authority vide Order dt 01.10.2020. Second Appeal dt 07.12.2020 filed by the Applicant has not been decided by the Competent Authority. Therefore, the aggrieved Applicant has filed present OA.

3. The Respondents have filed a detailed Reply Statement and have submitted that the Applicant was enrolled in Air Force on 02.01.2019 and after rendering one year and 218 days of service, he was discharged from Service on 06.08.2020 under clause "On having been found medically unfit for further service in IAF". The record of hospitalization of the Applicant reveals that just after one month of his joining the Air Force, he remained in hospital for treatment wef 01.02.2019 continuously with small breaks. He manifested with two episodes of witnessed Seizure on 03.07.2019 and 08.07.2019 and he was commenced on anti-epileptic medications to prevent recurrence of seizure activity. He was found lying unconscious on the floor nearby his ward at 1300h and was managed intensively for breakthrough seizure. In view of the Seizure episodes necessitating long term medications, the Applicant was recommended to be Invalidated Out of Service. The duly constituted Release Medical Board assessed his disability "Seizure Disorder" @ 30% for life and considered it as NANA. Since, the Applicant's disability was considered as NANA, the Applicant is not eligible for grant of Disability Pension. Further, 1^st Appeal preferred by the Applicant has also been rejected by the Competent Authority. In view of the aforesaid averments, the Respondents have reiterated that the OA is devoid of merit and deserves to be dismissed.

4. During the course of arguments, Learned Counsel for the Applicant submitted that the case may be remanded back to the Respondents for their reconsideration for grant of Invalid Pension in terms of Govt of India, Ministry of Defence letter No 12(06)/2019/D (Pen/Pol) dt 16.07.2020. Learned Counsel for the Respondents raised no objection if the case is remanded back to the Respondents for consideration of the request for grant of Invalid Pension as prayed for by the Applicant. However, it would be prudent to examine the prayer of the Applicant for grant of Invalid Pension under the Govt of India, Ministry of Defence letter dt 16.07.2020 (supra).

5. As regards Invalid Pension to be granted to the Applicant, as prayed for by the Counsel for the Applicant during the course of hearing, the relevant extracts of Govt of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Pensions and Pensioners' Welfare) OM No 21/01/2016-P&PW(F) dated 12/2/2019 state as follows :- *"Grant of invalid Pension under Rule 38 of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 - Clarification regarding.*

*The undersigned is directed to say that Rule 38 and Rule 49 of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 have been amended vide Notification No. 21/1/2016-P&PW(F) dated 4th January, 2019 (copy enclosed). The proviso to the amended Rule 38 of the CCS (Pension) Rules provides that a Government servant, who retires from service on account of any bodily or mental infirmity which permanently incapacitates him for the service before completing qualifying service of ten years, may also be granted invalid pension in accordance with sub- rule (2) of rule 49, subject to the conditions that the Government servant: (a) was examined by the appropriate medical authority either before his appointment or after his appointment to the service or post and was declared fit by that authority for Government service, and (b) fulfils all other conditions mentioned in this rule for grant of invalid pension.*

*2. In this connection, it is clarified that the condition of qualifying service of ten years for grant of pension under Rule 49(2) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 shall not be applicable in the case of a Government servant retiring on Invalid Pension on account of any bodily or mental infirmity, under Rule 38. Accordingly, Invalid Pension*

at the rate of 50% of emoluments or average emoluments, whichever is more beneficial, subject to a minimum of nine thousand rupees per mensem and maximum of one lakh twenty five thousand rupees per mensem, shall be payable to a Government servant who retires under Rule 38 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 even before completing a qualifying service of ten years."

6. The provisions of GoI letter dt 12.02.2019 (supra) have further been extended to Armed Forces Personnel vide GoI, MoD letter No 12(06)/2019/D (Pen/Pol) dt 16.07.2020, the relevant paragraphs of which read as under:- "Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare vide their OM No 21/01/2016-P&PW(F) dated 12^th February 2019 has provided that a Government servant, who retires from service on account of any bodily or mental infirmity which permanently incapacitates him from the service before completing qualifying service of ten years, may also be granted invalid pension subject to certain conditions. The provisions have been based on Government of India, Gazette Notification No. 21/1/2016-P&PW(F) dated 04.01.2019.

1. 2. The proposal to extend the provisions of Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare O.M. No. 21/01/2016-P&PW(F) dt 12.02.2019 to Armed Forces personnel has been under consideration of this Ministry. The undersigned is directed to state that Invalid Pension would henceforth also be admissible to Armed Forces personnel with less than 10 years of qualifying service in cases where personnel are invalidated out of service on account of any bodily or mental infirmity which is Neither Attributable to Nor Aggravated by Military Service and **which permanently incapacitates them from military service as well as civil reemployment.**

2. 3. Pension Regulation of the Services will be amended in due course.

3. 4. The provision of this letter shall apply to those Armed Forces Personnel who were/ are in service on or after 04.01.2019. The cases in respect of personnel who were invalidated out from service before 04.01.2019 will not be re-opened.

4. 5. All other terms and conditions shall remain unchanged.

5. 6. This issues with the concurrence of Finance Division of this Ministry vide their U.O. No. 10(08)/2016/FIN/PEN dated 29.06.2020.

6. 7. Hindi version will follow."

7. From the above, it is clear that to be eligible for grant of Invalid Pension, the applicant must fulfil the following two conditions :-

1. (a) He must be permanently incapacitated for Military as well as Civil Employment, before completing 10 years of service.

2. (b) He should have been in service as on 04/1/2019 or thereafter.

8. The MoD letter dt 16.07.2020 allows Invalid Pension to be granted to those personnel who are permanently incapacitated from **Military Service as well as Civil employment** and, that too, only to those personnel who were in

service on or after 04.01.2019. The Applicant was discharged from Service on 06.08.2020, ie., after the date of applicability of the policy. However, the Applicant has placed nothing on record that he was declared unfit for military as well as Civil Service. Further, the Applicant has placed nothing on record to show that he tried to get a job in civil employment, but he was not able to get the job due to his disability. The requirements of remaining physically and mentally fit is totally distinct between the Civil and Armed Forces. In the Armed Forces, a soldier has to remain physically and mentally fit at all times to defend his motherland as mandated by the Constitution and the medical standards are quite rigorous. However, in the Civil, an employee can be employed in any post which does not require rigors of service and even those who are unfit for Military Service get re-employed in Civil. That is why in the Invaliding Medical Board/ Release Medical Board, the Medical Board has to specifically recommend whether such Military personnel are fit or unfit for employment in Civil, when they are declared Unfit for Military Service and are medically boarded out. Therefore, it is presumed that a person discharged from defence services on medical grounds can be re-employed in civil and that fact is clearly mentioned in the discharge book at the time of his discharge from military service, based on the recommendations of the Invaliding Medical Board/ Release Medical Board, as the case may be. However, in the civil employment, a person is invalidated out from service only if he is permanently incapacitated to perform any type of duties. It is obvious that a person who is considered unfit for employment in Civil would never be considered fit for Military Service. Moreover, the Applicant is not eligible for grant of Invalid Pension in terms of Govt of India letters dt 12.02.2019 and 16.07.2020, as he does not fulfil the required criteria of being unfit for civil employment as well.

9. Though, the Applicant has submitted that he suffered from the disability due to consumption of contaminated food in the mess, but he placed nothing on record to validate his claim. Hence, he is not eligible for grant of disability pension as the disability for which he was invalidated out was categorized as NANA.

10. In view of the aforesaid facts and also the prayer of the Applicant to remand back the case to the Respondents for their consideration, we direct the Respondents to consider the case of the Applicant in terms of Govt of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensioners) letter Nos 21/01/2016-P&PW(F) dt 04.01.2019 and 12.02.2019 and Govt of India, Ministry of Defence letter No 12(06)/2019/D(Pol/Pen) dt 16.07.2020, other extant rules/ regulations within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this Order and the outcome thereof shall be intimated to the Applicant.

11. The TA is disposed off accordingly. Pending Miscellaneous Applications(s), if any, also stand disposed off.

12. No order on costs.

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सत्यमेव जयते

Sd/- XXX

(SANJIV MITTAL) MEMBER (A)

Ssy/-

Sd/- XXX

(GOVERDHAN BARDHAR) MEMBER (J)

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