Pre-2006 Disability Pensioners may hope for something good in respect of Disability Pension:Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Dear Veteran,
Regards.

Pre-2006 Disability Pensioners may hope for

something good in respect of Disability Pension.

During the 5th CPC regime, disability pension of defence personnel
was calculated on a slab-system basis while civil disability
pensioners were placed on a percentage basis.While defence
personnel were granted disability element @ Rs 2600 for officers,
1900 for JCOs and 1550 for Other Ranks (all rates for 100% disability),
civilians were granted a disability element @ 30% of basic pay. The slab
system was beneficial for some lower ranks of the forces but was not
quite congenial to the overall scenario.Recognising this anomaly,
the 6th CPC rightly recommended that even defence personnel should
be placed on a percentage system of calculating disability element.
However while accepting the new dispensation, the Govt made it
applicable only to post-2006 pensioners while retaining the old slab
system for pre-2006 pensioners. This resulted in a great disparity
between pre and post-2006 disabled personnel. To take an example,
a General who may have retired on 31 December 2005 was entitled to a
disability element of Rs 5880 per month while a General who retired
a day later with the same disability on 01 January 2006 was entitled
to Rs 27000 as disability element. The injury is the same, the rank
is the same but the disability element, well.The above seemed even
more unjustified in the light of the fact that when the percentage
system was introduced for civil disability pensioners in the 5th CPC,
it was made applicable to pre-1996 (pre-5th CPC) pensioners as well.
Moreover when the 6th CPC had tried to remove this anomaly between
defence and civil disability pensioners, the said rectification had
to date back to the inception of the anomaly (1996) and not from
a prospective date. The Hon’ble Courts have also time and again ruled
that when an anomaly is rectified, it has to date back to the time when
such an incongruity came into being and not from the date when the
decision of such rectification is taken.Thankfully, there are indications
that the new stipulation is going to be extended to pre-2006 disability
pensioners too, very soon. Personnel who retired prior to 01 January 2006
would then also be placed on a percentage system for calculation of
disability element. Of course this shall be subject to a minimum grant
of Rs 3100 as disability element for 100% disability. This should take care
of a very major grey area as far as our disability pensioners are concerned.

Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
President,
Indian Ex-Services League,Punjab & Chandigarh.
Mob.098554-09128,Tele-Fax.0175-5000896.