Union of India Through its Secretary & Ors. vs SGT Girish Kumar and Ors. Etc.

Held: Disability pension is grounded not merely in length of service, but in the impairment suffered by a member of the Armed Forces in the course of, or attributable to, the service rendered to the nation – Disability pension is not a matter of largesse, but a recognition of sacrifice made in service of the nation – Right to receive disability pension is a valuable right and once found due, the benefit of the same has to be given from the date it became due – It cannot be curtailed by restricting the benefit to a period of three years preceding the filing of the original application – In the absence of any compelling reason to take a different view, no justification to depart from the view consistently taken by this Court – Order dated 18.04.2016 granting the benefit of broad banding of the disability element to Armed Forces Personnel who had retired or were discharged on completion of engagement with disability, attributable to or aggravated by military service, from the date specified in the respective judicial orders, was a conscious policy determination taken with full financial concurrence – Thus, where the State itself, by a conscious policy decision, has determined that arrears of disability pension are payable from a specified cut off date, it is not open to it to subsequently resile and contend that such arrears ought to be confined to a period of three years preceding the claim – To permit such a course, would amount to acknowledging the right in principle while denying its substantive content in effect – Any such deprivation of accrued arrears which has become due to ex-servicemen in view of judicial determination as well as policy decision taken by the Union of India itself, would constitute deprivation of property and would amount to infraction of Art.300A of the Constitution – Union of India, as a model employer, is expected to act with fairness, consistency and even-handedness in the administration of benefits conferred upon those who have served the nation – When a benefit is recognised by a policy and affirmed by judicial pronouncement, its application cannot be selective or uneven – On facts, the original applications filed by the ex-servicemen does not suffer from any delay or laches disentitling them from claiming the relief of arrears of disability pension, thus, the objections on the delay and limitation without any merit – Orders passed by the tribunal in so far as they restrict the benefit of arrears of disability pension to three years preceding the filing of original application quashed and set aside – Appellants entitled to disability pension including the benefit of broad banding, due to them, with effect from 01.01.1996 or 01.01.2006, as the case may be, along with interest @6% pa. [Paras 15-23]