Disability benefits for pre-2006 Pensioners-Vijay Mohan : Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Disability benefits for pre-1996 pensioners
Vijay Mohan:Tribune News Service.
Chandigarh, January 31.Following recommendations of
the Committeeof Secretaries, the government has partially
modifiedregulations fordisability pension and extended
benefit of broad-banding of disability percentage to those
invalided out of serviceprior to January 1996.The cap on
war injury pension, restricting the same to themaximum
of last drawn emoluments for personnel invalided out in
Category ‘E’, alsostands removed. The orders to this effect
were issued by the Ministry of Defence on January 19 after
financial sanction for the same was accorded earlier this
month.The benefits of broad-banding of disability
percentage and removing the cap on war injury pension
were recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission. These
were, however, extended only to those invalided out of
service in1996 or after, thereby putting similarly placed
persons left service earlierat a disadvantage.While the
partial modification has been welcomed by veterans as
a positive development, some officers and legal experts
point out that the benefits have been extended only to
those individuals, who were invalided out of service and
not to those who retired on completion of their terms of
engagement.
In the case, Paramjit Singh Vs Union of India, the Punjab
and Haryana High Court, has alreadyheld this disparity
to be arbitrary.
Regulations now themselves provide that for the purposes
of disability pension, persons placed in low medical
category at the time of retirement are deemed to be
invalided out of service.The different treatment between
invalided and superannuating personnel, according to
lawyers dealing in thepensionary matters, seems strange
in view of the fact that broad-banding or rounding-off
disability percentage was introduced to curb medical
subjectivity because it was felt thatdifferent medical
boards were providing different percentagesof disability
for similar ailments.
Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
Mob.09554-09128,Tele-fax 0175-5000896.