UNION OF INDIA Vs. HAV/AA INDRAJ PRASAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) I. Scope:

(2.) THE second appeal addresses the issue of the entitlement of a claim for disability pension by an ex -serviceman. The claim of the Plaintiff survives through reversing fortunes where the trial Court had held that the Plaintiff had been posted in Medical Corps and retired from 167 Military Hospital and he had not been invalidated from service due to any disability. The trial Court also found that the Civil Court had no jurisdiction to decide the issue of Plaintiffs entitlement and had stated that the claim had been barred by limitation. The Appellate Court held that the Plaintiff was entitled for disability pension from 1st July, 1994 with arrears upto date with interest @ 7% per annum.

(3.) THE controversy could be resolved by reference initially to the facts brought out through pleadings and the evidence. The Plaintiff had joined the Army on 12th June, 1970 and was discharged from service on superannuation on 1st July, 1994 from 167 Military Hospital Medical Corps Group. He had been suffering from psoriasis vulgaris at the time of discharge from service. The Plaintiff had been granted service pension for life along with all other retiral benefits. His claim to disability pension had been rejected by the competent authority and communicated to him vide letter dated 23rd May, 1995, since as per the report of the Medical Board, the disability was neither considered as attributable to military service nor aggravated by military service. There was a provision for an appeal against the report of the Medical Board but the Plaintiff had not availed of such a remedy. He filed a suit in the year 2003 in Civil Suit No. 300 of 2003 on 8th September, 2003 that is after seven years of his discharge from service.