Supreme Court dismisses Union appeals against disability pensions for ex-army officers

The Supreme Court of India has dismissed 271 appeals filed by the Union government that challenged the granting of disability pensions to retired army officers. A bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe ruled that the burden of proof remains with the employer—the army—to demonstrate that a service member's disability is not attributable to or aggravated by military service.

The Court addressed challenges to previous rulings by the Armed Forces Tribunal and various High Courts. While the government argued that the 2008 Entitlement Rules removed the presumption of fitness upon joining service, the Court clarified that this change does not automatically mean a disability detected upon retirement is unconnected to military service.

Furthermore, the Court criticized the government for failing to implement recommendations from the 2015 Raksha Mantri Report. The report had advised the immediate withdrawal of litigation challenging disability pensions for incapacitated soldiers to avoid denying benefits on ‘hyper-technical grounds’. The bench noted that despite the Ministry of Defence accepting these recommendations, such appeals continued to be filed.