Justice C. Hari Shankar, Justice Ajay Digpaul, Delhi High Court
Hypertension Attributable To Military Service: Delhi High Court Upholds Disability Pension For Retired Air Force Personnel
|The Delhi High Court dismissed a Petition challenging the AFT’s Order, which allowed an application by the Respondent for the grant of disability pension.
The Delhi High Court has upheld the grant of disability pension to a retired Air Force personnel (Respondent), while remarking that hypertension, from which the Respondent suffered, was attributable to military service.
The Court dismissed a Petition challenging the Order passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), which allowed an application by the Respondent for the grant of disability pension on the ground that he suffered from Primary Hypertension with 30% disability.
A Division Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Ajay Digpaul held, “Thus, we find that even the specialist who examined the respondent did not arrive at any conclusion that the Primary Hypertension from which the respondent suffered was not attributable to military service.”
SPC Satya Ranjan Swain appeared for the Petitioners, while Advocate Praveen Kumar represented the Respondent.
Brief Facts
The Petitioners submitted that the Hypertension in the present case was possibly attributable to the fact that the respondent had a family history of Hypertension.
The Respondent had served in the Indian Air Force for over 38 years before he was diagnosed as suffering from Primary Hypertension. The Respondent, in his self-declaration declared that he had not been suffering from Primary Hypertension prior to joining the Indian Air Force.
Court’s Reasoning
The High Court remarked, “It is quite obvious that where a person who at the time of joining the military service is not suffering from Hypertension and is found to suffer from Hypertension after – in the present case – 38 years of service, Hypertension cannot be considered as attributable to any genetic or hereditary factors unless the Specialist, who had examined the candidate so states. There is no such medical opinion on record.”
The Court relied on the decision by the Supreme Court in Bijender Singh v UOI. wherein it was held that "a member of the armed forces is presumed to be in sound physical and mental condition at the time of his entry into the service if there is no note or record to the contrary."
“We have also been conscious of the fact that we are exercising certiorari jurisdiction over the decision of the AFT and are not sitting an appeal over the said decision,” the Bench noted.
Consequently, the Court ordered, “Compliance with the impugned judgement of the AFT, if not already ensured, be ensured within a period of four weeks from today.”
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Petition.
Cause Title: Union Of India & Ors. v. HFO Shashi Kant Singh (Retd) (Neutral Citation: 2025:DHC:4574-DB)
Appearance:
Petitioners: SPC Satya Ranjan Swain; Advocate Ankush Kapoor
Respondent: Advocate Praveen Kumar