Mental disorders after joining can’t be attributed to service: Armed Forces Tribunal

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, October 29

Noting that it is not always possible to detect mental disorders at the time of recruitment, the Armed Services Tribunal (AFT) has held that such conditions arising within six years of entry into the Army cannot be considered service-attributable. military.

Rejection of pension claim

We are of the opinion that since the illness began less than six years after his enlistment, therefore, without much imagination, it can be concluded that it has been caused by the stresses and strains of military service. AFT Bank

The widow of an army jawan had approached the AFT seeking a disability pension in respect of her late husband, who had joined the army in March 1982 and was medically discharged in May 1993 after over nine years of service.

In February 1982, it was first discovered that he had schizophrenia. A medical release board assessed her disability at 30 percent over two years and deemed it not attributable to or aggravated (NANA) by military service. “We are of the opinion that, since the illness began less than six years after his enlistment, it can therefore be concluded without much imagination that it has been caused by the stresses and strains of military service,” the Court said. of Justice of the AFT. Umesh Chandra Srivastava and Vice Admiral Abhay Raghunath Karve ruled.

Jawan’s disability pension application was rejected in January 1992 and he died in July 1995. Disability pension applications submitted by his widow were also rejected in 1995 and 1996.

The Bank said that since there was no causal connection between the disease and military service, it agreed with the medical board’s view that the disease was NANA. The AFT also referred to previous Supreme Court rulings on pension denial in similar cases.