SUBHASHIS GHOSH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Aggrieved by the judgment and order of the Armed Forces Tribunal, Regional Bench, Kolkata, in O.A. No.5 of 2012 the petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The brief facts pertaining to the present petition are as follows: The petitioner was enrolled with the Indian Air Force on 18th December, 1998. He was referred for psychiatric evaluation in May, 2002. He was prescribed certain medications and while on remission he was retained in the low medical category with maintenance medication. The petitioner's health was reviewed in January, 2003, April, 2005 and July, 2007, when he was prescribed medication as it was found that he suffered from depression. In February, 2008 when he had a relapse, he was produced before the Invalidment Medical Board which met on 3rd June, 2008 and diagnosed that the petitioner had suffered from "Recurrent Depressive Disorder". It was found that the petitioner suffered from 30 per cent disablement for life. He was terminated from service on being invalidated on medical grounds, after completing 9 years and 281 days in service. The petitioner applied for Disability Pension, which was refused by the Air Force on 7th November, 2008. He preferred the First Appeal on 24th February, 2009 which was also rejected. The Second Appeal submitted by the petitioner to the Ministry of Defence was also dismissed on 26th April, 2010.

(3.) Being aggrieved by those orders, the petitioner preferred an application before the Armed Forces Tribunal for redressal of his grievance. The petitioner pleaded in his application that the endorsement in para 5 of the Invalidment Medical Board which indicated that his illness was neither attributable nor aggravated by the service with the Air Force was cryptic. According to the petitioner, the denial of Disability Pension to him was contrary to the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The respondents opposed the application filed by the petitioner before the Tribunal by contending that as his illness was not attributable or aggravated by service with the Air Force, he was not entitled to the Disability Pension. The Tribunal by its impugned order has dismissed the application on the ground that it could not sit in appeal over the decision of the Medical Board.