The Supreme Court has provided disability pension to an army soldier who has been out of job. In 1989, Bijender Singh was expelled from the army due to tour. He claimed that the problem started after he had very low temperatures and duty in Siachen with a very low temperature, but the army’s medical board and Armed Forces Tribunal did not accept it.
Bijender Singh, who was admitted to the army in 1985, was posted in Siachen between May 1988 and September 1988. In 1989, he came to know that he had a tour and was disqualified as an army job. The problem that Bijaar had in medical language is called Generalized Tonic Clonic Seizure.
The jawan said that this problem has happened due to duty in Siachen. At first he was absolutely healthy, but the Medical Board of the Army did not consider this problem to be related to military duty. In 1992, 1998 and 2002, the matter went to different medical boards. Everyone concluded that Bijender’s problem has nothing to do with the service of the army.
Bijender filed a petition in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). AFT dismissed the petition in 2016. In 2018, AFT also turned down by Bijender’s reconsideration petition. Now a bench of Supreme Court Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan have given him justice.
The Supreme Court has said that it is an established law that if a person is found fit in medical examination while getting into the job, then he will be recognized. Prior to the recruitment of the army, the petitioner also underwent health check -up and was found to be suitable for the army job. In such a situation, the conclusion of the medical board does not seem correct. It was the responsibility of the army to prove this conclusion undeniably. It did not happen.
The judges have said that the AFT also recognized the report of the Medical Board instead of making a fair evaluation. This cannot be said right. The court has said that the problem that the petitioner has had, should be considered as more than 20 percent disability and according to it, 50 percent disability component should be added to the pension. This payment should be considered applicable from 1996. So far, the outstanding amount should be given to the ex -serviceman in 3 months with 6 percent interest.
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