HC upholds pension for disabled soldier

Chandigarh: In an order with significant ramifications for cases related to disability pension for armed forces personnel, Kerala high court has ruled in favour of a soldier who sustained a disabling injury after an accidental fall in his military quarters while posted at a cantonment in Punjab.

Rejecting the contention of military authorities that the accident did not occur "while on duty", the HC held that the soldier was at the duty station, residing in the official quarters, and was not on leave when the unfortunate mishap occurred.

"It can be safely concluded that there is a reasonable nexus and causal connection between the incident resulting in the disability and the military service rendered by the respondent (the soldier)," a division bench comprising Justices Amit Rawal and P V Balakrishnan said in its order, dismissing a petition filed by the ministry of defence (MoD), the Army and others. They had challenged an order passed by the Kochi bench of Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on Nov 26, 2021, in favour of Naib Subedar Sasidharan C K .