Arrears Of Disability Pension Broad-Banding In Armed Forces Cannot Be Restricted To 3 Years Before Claim: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today upheld a judgment of the Armed Forces Tribunal which had held that arrears of broad-banding of disability pension have to be paid from January 1, 1996 or date of retirement without restricting the claim to three years prior to filing of the application before AFT.

A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe dismissed an appeal filed by the Union of India against a Larger Bench decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal.

The Larger Bench had held that under normal circumstances, arrears of broad-banding of disability pension are payable from January 1, 1996 or from the date of retirement or grant of disability pension, whichever is later, without restricting the claim to three years prior to filing of proceedings.

The tribunal further held that premature retirees or personnel prematurely discharged with disability/war injury, are entitled to broad banding of disability pension with effect from either 01.01.2006 or the date of their retirement.

The Court allowed appeals filed by certain ex-servicemen against AFT orders restricting arrears to three years prior to filling the claim.

“We do not find any merit in the appeals filed by Union of India. Accordingly the appeals filed by Union of India are dismissed. The orders passed by the Tribunal which have been impugned in civil appeals filed by ex-servicemen insofar as they restrict the benefit of arrears of disability pension to 3 years preceding the filing of the original application are quashed and set aside. The appellants in said appeals are held entitle to disability pension including the benefit of broad banding due to them with effect from January 1, 1996 or January 1, 2006 as the case maybe along with interest”, the Court held.

The case before the Tribunal concerned former Armed Forces personnel who had been granted disability pension. The question was whether arrears of the enhanced disability element could be restricted to three years prior to filing of the original applications before the AFT, or whether they were payable from January 1, 1996 or from the date of retirement or grant of disability pension, whichever was later.

The Tribunal had earlier granted the benefit of broad-banding but differed on the issue of arrears. One Member held that arrears had to be granted from January 1, 1996. The other Member held that arrears should be confined to three years prior to filing. Owing to this difference, the matter was referred to a Larger Bench.

The Larger Bench examined the Ministry of Defence letter dated January 31, 2001 introducing broad-banding, and the litigation that followed challenging the restriction limiting the benefit only to personnel invalided out of service. It noted that the Armed Forces Tribunal, Regional Bench, Chandigarh had struck down the prohibitory stipulation in paragraph 8.2 of the January 31, 2001 letter in Vijay Oberoi/Ram Avtar v. Union of India, and that the Supreme Court had dismissed the Union's appeal on December 10, 2014.

The Tribunal also relied on various Supreme Court judgments where arrears of rounding off were directed to be paid from January 1, 1996 with interest. The Tribunal relied on the Supreme Court's judgments in K.J.S. Buttar v. Union of India and Davinder Singh v. Union of India. In Davinder Singh, the Supreme Court modified a Tribunal order that had limited arrears to three years and directed that arrears on account of rounding off be paid from January 1, 1996 with interest. The Larger Bench held that in view of these decisions, there was no surviving controversy on the starting point of arrears.

On the plea of limitation, the Larger Bench held that pension is a recurring cause of action and has been recognised as property under Article 300A of the Constitution. The Tribunal observed that once the issue had been settled by the Supreme Court, similarly placed pensioners were entitled to the same benefit without restriction on arrears. It concluded that there was no surviving controversy on arrears of broad-banding from January 1, 1996, and that no three-year cap could be imposed.

The Larger Bench further emphasised that once the Supreme Court has settled the issue, the government is expected to implement the law uniformly. It stated that affected pensioners should not be forced to litigate individually, nor should arrears be curtailed merely because they approached the Tribunal later.

Case no. – CA no. 6820-6824/2018 and connected cases

Case Title – Union of India v. Sgt Girish Kumar and Ors.