BHAGWAN SINGH Vs. UOI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The claim made by the petitioner for payment of disability pension was rejected as early as in the year 1962 in terms of PCDA(P) Allahabad letter dated 20th September, 1962. The rejection proceeded on the ground that the disability from which the petitioner suffered was not attributable to military service nor was the same aggravated by such service.

(2.) The petitioner, it appears, remained content with the said rejection till April, 2003 when he filed a representation before the Chief of the Army Staff for grant of disability pension, in response whereto he was informed by letter dated 06.06.2003 that the claim having already been rejected upon proper consideration, there was no question of the matter being reviewed at this stage. Aggrieved, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition in this Court seeking a mandamus directing the respondents to reconsider his claim for payment of disability pension.

(3.) Having heard Mr. Trivedi, learned counsel for the petitioner, we see no merit in this petition. The claim for disability pension having been rejected in the year 1962, the present writ petition filed after 45 years is clearly barred by laches and unexplained delays. If the petitioner was aggrieved by the rejection order issued by the competent authority, he ought to have sought proper legal remedy against the same. He should have filed an appeal or a writ petition against the order of rejection at the appropriate stage. Having slept over the matter for about 45 years, he cannot at this belated stage agitate a stale claim.