ON THE OCCASION OF THE ARMED FORCES FLAG DAY, 7th DEC 2014

When you go home, tell them of us and say

For their tomorrow, we gave our today

A REQUEST BY CONCERNED CITIZENS TO THE HONBLE PRIME MINISTER AND

THE DEFENCE MINISTER (RAKSHA MANTRI) CALLING FOR INCULCATION OF
SENSITIVITY WITHIN THE SYSTEM TOWARDS THE NEEDS AND REQUIREMENTS
OF MILITARY VETERANS AND FURTHER FOR WITHDRAWING LITIGATION
INITIATED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN THE LAST FEW YEARS AGAINST DISABLED
SOLDIERS AND MILITARY WIDOWS
Sirs,
1.
At the outset, we would like to emphasize that this request of ours is politically
neutral and without any political connotations and we are making this effort on the
Armed Forces Flag Day with an optimism stemming out of your known concern for men
and women in uniform.
2.
In the last few years, the country has witnessed humongous amount of litigation
initiated by the Government against its own disabled soldiers, old military pensioners
and military widows. In fact, it is well known that most of the Civil Appeals/SLPs filed by
the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and pending in the Honble Supreme Court are against
the disability benefits awarded by Courts and Tribunals to disabled soldiers- an actuality
which is stark and alarming enough to make the entire citizenry hang its head in shame.
3.
Most of these appeals are filed in the Honble Supreme Court by the MoD on the
pretext that court decisions favouring disabled soldiers are against Government policy
and some officers seem to suggest that irrespective of the arbitrariness or the illogical
nature of some policies, it is their sacred duty to defend them till the Apex Court rather
than undertake an honest exercise to resolve anomalies in such policies or making
them humane or realizing that there must be something amiss in such policies if the
same are being repeatedly commented upon adversely by judicial bodies. Moreover,
many decisions rendered by Courts and Tribunals in favour of soldiers are not
implemented by the MoD without even obtaining a stay from a higher judicial forum.
4.
It is also observed with concern that appeals on similar legal issues are repeatedly
filed by the MoD citing artificial distinctions even when a particular matter has already
been settled by the Honble Supreme Court or a High Court. It is further a matter of
concern that some of such appeals involve a pittance, to take an example, there are
appeals filed by the MoD against the enhancement of disability element of pension
granted to Sepoys by High Courts/Armed Forces Tribunals @50% disability rates in lieu
of 40% rates- a total basic pension amount of Rs 310/- (Rupees Three Hundred and
Ten) per month. There are other appeals challenging the award of 20% disability
element amounting to Rs 702/- (Rupees Seven Hundred and Two). Comparing it with
the litigation threshold of other Ministries again paints a grim picture since
establishments such as the Income Tax Department do not approach the Honble
Supreme Court unless the amount involved is more than Rs 25,00,000/- (Rupees
Twenty Five Lac).
5.
It is also unethical that in the course of such moves by the MoD, the lower level
staff has drilled into the minds of the higher bureaucracy and the political executive that
soldiers are being greedy with their demands. These are one-sided decisions obtained
from the political executive by painting a unilateral picture since poor soldiers and
military veterans and other stakeholders do not have the ear of the higher echelons of
governance and are unable to rebut incorrect facts ultimately leading to skewed
decisions. As per media reports, the Government has recently (probably rightly) decided
not to appeal to the Honble Supreme Court against a decision of the Honble Bombay
High Court involving an amount of Rs 35,000 Crores, in order to support the morale of
business houses investing in India and also the overall business sentiment, but we
would like to point out here that the morale of our men and women in uniform is also of
utmost importance to us as a nation, and we, the citizens, and the Government, are
1

expected to stand behind them rather than stand against them in an adversarial role. It
is painful to even imagine the agony caused to poor soldiers and their families who,
from far off places, are forced to litigate by the MoD till the Honble Supreme Court with
meagre resources.
6.
Disability benefits are granted quite liberally in all democracies but in India these
are made subject to many Ifs and Buts leading to a hyper-technical and literal approach
rather than a liberal approach as is intended by the rules. For example, many disabilities
such as psychiatric and cardiovascular disorders are termed as Neither Attributable to,
Nor Aggravated to military service resulting in denial of disability benefits not realizing
that irrespective of whether a person in deployed in field or peace, there is inherent
stress and strain in military service coupled with the fact that a person operates away
from family during most of his/her service in a regimented lifestyle under a strict
disciplinary code. Within the system, there is denial of benefits at many stages starting
from military medical boards to administrative authorities, who, at times even easily
blame domestic reasons for stress related disorders again not realizing that a person
remaining away from family due to the very nature of military service is torn between
domestic requirements that he cannot attend to (as other common citizens can) on one
hand and the call of duty on the other. Such issues have already been favourably
emphasized by the Honble Supreme Court in the two recent decisions of Dharamvir
Singh Vs UOI (Civil Appeal 4949/2013) decided on 02 July 2013 and K Srinivasa Reddy
Vs UOI (Civil Appeal No 5140/2011) decided on 09 Oct 2014 and by the Honble Punjab
& Haryana High Court in Umed Singh Vs UOI (CWP 7277/2013) decided on 14 May
2014 and Barkat Masih Vs UOI (CWP 1792/2013) decided on 23 May 2014. In fact, in
most operationally active armies, any disability arising in a person while in military
service or during authorized leave is deemed and presumed to be related to service
unless caused due to gross negligence or substance abuse.
7.
It would also be appropriate to recall that appreciably many MPs cutting across
party lines have taken up this issue in the past, including Ms Smriti Z Irani, who did so
in August 2013, in the following terms:
...though the rules of granting disability pension are inherently very liberal and
also endorsed as such by the Supreme Court in the recent judgment of
Dharamvir Singh Vs. Union of India, yet many cases of disabilities arising during
military service are restrictively and hyper-technically declared neither
attributable to, nor aggravated by military service by the MoD leading to denial of
disability pension to disabled soldiers. Also, military personnel with non-service
related disabilities discharged with less than 10 years of service are not entitled
to any form of pension leading to denial of the right to live a life of dignity,
whereas the employment of civilian employees on being disabled is protected
under section 47 of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of
Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 enabling them to earn full pension.
Majority of appeals and SLPs filed by MoD before the Supreme Court are against
their own disabled soldiers on the specious ground that courts and tribunals have
granted relief against Defence Ministrys policy. More than one lakh retired
defence personnel have been affected.
Ironically, far from safeguarding the welfare of retired soldiers, sailors
and airmen, many of them disabled from battle injuries or the bleak conditions of
service, the DESW stonewalls and holds off payment until an ex-serviceman
claimant is either dead or broke.
In view of the above, I urge the Government to intervene in the matter to
resolve the issue and ensure that soldiers who made sacrifices for the nation get
their rightful and respectful due...

8.
For the defence community, the ruling majority party had also kindly included
minimizing of appeals as one of the points in the defence section of its manifesto and
even You Sir (the Honble Prime Minister) had objected to litigation involving disabled
soldiers in your first campaign in Rewari in Haryana. It is hence legitimate to expect that
both of you, that is, the Honble PM and the Raksha Mantri, would be forceful enough to
make the MoD realize the morbidity and the anti-veteran character of their attitude in
making disabled, war disabled, maimed, handicapped and infirm soldiers the target of
such sadistic ego-fuelled litigation which emerges not out of genuine legal points but out

of administrative egotism when mere common soldiers, especially of the lower ranks,
manage to get relief in Courts against the mighty system, the MoD.
9.
With this sanguine hope, all of us hence appeal to you Honble PM and Raksha
Mantri ji, to initiate the following steps:
A.
Direct Ministry of Defence to withdraw litigation initiated
against our disabled soldiers & military widows related to the subject
of their disability and pensionary benefits at the earliest.
B.
Constitute a committee, with stakeholders and independent
experts as members, to resolve all other policy anomalies which
have given rise to litigation in issues concerning military veterans
and widows.
C.
Ensure that officers serving in the Ministry of Defence in
general, and Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in particular, are
sensitized towards the needs and requirements of the military
community and realize that it is their first pious obligation to serve
soldiers, veterans and their families, giving them due respect and
dignity which they deserve.
Thanking you in anticipation
CITIZENS FOR SOLDIERS
Endorsed by

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament

211, North Avenue
New Delhi 110011
Ph: 011-23094044
(The above address may be used for communication related to the subject)
And

Kabir Bedi
International Actor
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Justice Ghanshyam Prasad
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Brig Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (Retd)

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Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd)

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1971 Indo-Pak War

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Lt Gen S Pattabhiraman (Retd)

Vijay Gore, IAS (Retd)

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Former Vice Chief of the Army Staff
Former Member
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Former Additional Chief Secretary

Govt of Karnataka

Lt Gen PC Katoch (Retd)

Chinmayi Sripaada

Lt Gen Milan Naidu (Retd)

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Former DGIS, Indian Army

Award Winning Singer

CEO Blue Elephant
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Former Vice Chief of the Army Staff
Former Member
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Sucheta Dalal

Nitin Gokhale

Maj DP Singh (Retd)

Managing Editor Moneylife

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100% Disabled Kargil War survivor

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Rahul Ravindran
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Jaskirat Singh Nagra

Navdeep Singh

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