Disability pension for Armed Forces personnel is payable where a disability is attributable to or aggravated by military service and satisfies the applicable pensionary rules. In many cases, if no disease or disability was noted at the time of enrolment/commissioning, and the disability arose during service, courts have applied a presumption in favour of the...
Read More
In Union of India through its Secretary v. Sgt Girish Kumar and Others, 2026 INSC 149, decided on 12 February 2026, the Supreme Court held that arrears arising from broad-banding of disability pension cannot be restricted to only three years before filing an Original Application before the Armed Forces Tribunal. The Court held that disability...
Read More
Disability pension for Armed Forces personnel is payable where a disability is attributable to or aggravated by military service and is accepted in accordance with the applicable Pension Regulations and Entitlement Rules. It ordinarily consists of two components: service element and disability element. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that, where no disease or disability...
Read More
The Armed Forces Tribunal is a specialised statutory forum for service disputes and court-martial appeals concerning Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. The Principal Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal is situated at New Delhi and deals with matters including disability pension, service benefits, promotion, ACR disputes, disciplinary action and court-martial appeals. The AFT functions...
Read MoreA statutory complaint in the Indian Army is a formal grievance-redressal remedy available under the Army Act, 1950, principally under Section 26 for persons other than officers and Section 27 for officers. It is used when an Army personnel considers himself wronged by a superior authority, adverse service action, ACR/APAR grading, promotion denial, administrative injustice,...
Read More
Court martial appeal in India lies before the Armed Forces Tribunal under Section 15 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007 against an order, decision, finding or sentence passed by a court martial. The Tribunal may interfere where the finding is legally unsustainable, involves a wrong decision on a question of law, or where material...
Read MoreDisability pension for Armed Forces personnel in India is payable where a disability is assessed as attributable to or aggravated by military service and satisfies the applicable pension regulations, entitlement rules and medical-board standards. The Armed Forces Tribunal is the principal forum for challenging denial of disability pension, rejection of attributability/aggravation, incorrect percentage assessment, denial...
Read More
The Armed Forces Tribunal, commonly known as the AFT, is a specialised judicial forum created under the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007 to decide service disputes of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel, including retired personnel, dependants, heirs and successors in service-related matters. It also hears appeals arising from court martial findings, sentences and orders....
Read More
Disability pension is not a benevolent concession; it is a legal recognition of the medical cost of service.By Adv. Govind BaliA disability pension is a pensionary benefit granted to armed forces personnel where a disability is attributable to or aggravated by military service. Indian courts have repeatedly held that a disability pension cannot be denied...
Read More
Introduction The law on disability pension below 20% has often been trapped in a narrow administrative reading. A Medical Board assesses the disability at less than 20%, the pension authority treats the figure as decisive, and the claim for disability element is rejected. The process appears neat on paper. It is, however, far less satisfactory...
Read More