SNEH LATA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE limited issue raised by the petitioner in the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is that the respondents have failed to accede to her request for grant of special family pension and also grant of full AGIF benefits which the petitioner has claimed in the light of the judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Civil Writ petition No. 67/2007 titled as 'Paramjeet Singh vs. Union of India' decided on 12th February 2008.

(2.) SO far as the relief concerning grant of full AGIF benefits are concerned, the learned counsel for the petitioner seeks liberty to take separate legal remedy because of the fact that the petitioner is claiming full amount of AGIF benefits and not as per the nomination form filled by the deceased.

(3.) CONTROVERTING the aforesaid contentions, Ms. Anjana Gosain, the learned counsel for the respondents submits that the learned Armed Forces Tribunal has rightly declined the grant of special family pension to the petitioner as the disease was a case of 'malignant mesotheuoma' and as per the opinion given by the Medical Officer, the same was not attributable to nor aggravated by military service. The learned counsel for the respondents also submits that the case of the petitioner squarely falls under Clause 12 of the Chapter VI, Guide to Medical Officers, 2002 and the Amendment of 2008 (paras 9 to 12); that during his entire service, the petitioner was posted in non -hard/ peace stations, therefore, there could not have been any occasion for him to have suffered from any medical condition due to military service. The learned counsel for the respondents also submits that even the service tenure of the son of the petitioner was quite short therefore, there were remote chances for him to have suffered with the said ailment due to military service.