From:
IC-27927L BRIG M K GANJU, Retd
B-60, GREEN WOOD CITY, SEC-45,GURUGRAM Haryana,
PIN- 122003
T0 :
IHQ of MOD (Army)
MP 5 & 6
Ground Floor, Wing No III.
West Block- III, R K Puram
New Delhi 110066
SUB: BROAD BANDING OF DISABILITY PENSION
1. It is submitted that I have superannuated from service on 31 May 2007. I was granted 20% disability pension on my retirement. My application for seeking broad banding of my disability pension to 50% was rejected by the competent authority. As such I had filed an O A before AFT, P B, Delhi.
2.On my Original Application No 3/2018, titled, “Brig M K GanjuRetd and Others Vs Union of India & others”, before Hon’ble AFT Principal Bench, Delhi, Hon’ble Tribunal have granted me the liberty to approach the competent authority for issuing orders to PCDA, Pensions, Allahabad for enhancing my disability pension from …20…percent to….50..… percent after broad banding the same in terms of Judgement by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of “Union of India & Others vs Ram Avtar” and Judgement of Larger Bench of AFT, Principal Bench in case of “Sgt Girish Chand and Others Vs Union of India” dated 1-12-2017.
2. The Hon’ble Tribunal have further exhorted that on receipt of my representation the competent authority shall deal with the same in the light of aforesaid two judgements and pass a speaking order as expeditiously as possible but not later than three months.
3. In view of the above, it is requested that requisite order enhancing my disability pension from….20.. percent to…50…percent with effect from….01-06-2007…. be issued to the PCDA Pensions, Allahabad, by the competent authority at the earliest.
4. The following supporting documents are enclosed as Annexure A B C & D to this application:-
(i) Copy of AFT PB, Delhi order dated 05-01-2018 -- Annexure – A
(ii) Copy of relevant Extracts of Supreme Court Judgement incase of Civil Appeal No 418 of 2012 dated 10-12-2014 Union of India Vs Ram Avtar---Annexure-B
(iii) Copy of relevant extracts of Hon’ble AFT, PB, Delhi, larger Bench Judgement dated 1-12-2017---Annexure-C
(iv) Copy of PPO No------showing ---20---% disability pension Wef 01-06-2007---Annexure-D.
5. An early action is solicited, Pl.
Yours faithfully
Brig M K Ganju
Annexure -A
COURT NO -2 ARMED FORCES TRIBUNAL,
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI,
OA 3/2018 with MA 5/2018
IC27927 Brig MK GanjuOrs …Applicants
Vs
UOI & Ors …Respondents
For Applicants : Mr R K Tripathi, Advocate
For Respondents : Mr Anil Gautam, Advocate for R-1-4 7& 8
: Mr J S Yadav, Adv for R 5&6
CORAM:
HON’BLE MR JUSTICE V.K.SHALI MEMBER (J)
HON’BLE LT GEN, SANJIV LANGAR, MEMBER (A)
ORDER
05.01.2018
1.This is an Original Application whereby Broad Banding benefit has been claimed on behalf of 158 applicants by filing the single OA by applicant No 1. So faras the remaining applicants 2 to 158 are concerned neither they have signed the application nor there is any supporting affidavit filed by them. In such a situation we feel that it would not be proper for this Tribunal to entertain the present joint application
2.Learned counsel for the applicant has very fairly conceded to withdraw the OA with liberty to approach the respondents for granting the benefits of Broad banding with reference to judgement of UOI & Ors Vs Ram Avtar and judgement dated 01.12.2017 of the full Bench of this Tribunal
3.It is contended by the learned counsel that applicants will make individual representation with the respondents and respondents may dispose of the said representations within a time bound manner.
4.We feel that the suggestions given by the learned counsel for the respondents are very fair and reasonable and deserves to be allowed.
5.The Applicant is permitted to withdraw the present application with liberty to all applicants to approach the respondents separately by making a representation along with relevant documents for obtaining the benefits of broad banding in terms of Ram Avtar’s case as well the Full Bench Judgement of this Tribunal.
6.In case, such a representation is made by applicants we hope and trust respondents shall deal with the same in the light of the aforesaid two judgements as expeditiously as possible and not later than within three months from the date of making the representation. The order which shall be passed by the respondents should be a speaking order and the same shall be communicated to the applicants. In case, the applicants still feel aggrieved by such order, so passed, by the respondents, he may have the recourse to such remedy as may be available to him in law.
7.Accordingly the present O A stands disposed of in above terms
8.DASTI
Sd
( JUSTICE V. K. SHALI
MEMBER (J)
Sd
( Lt. Gen. SANJIV LANGAR)
MEMBER (A)
Annexure-B
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 418 OF 2012
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. ... APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
RAM AVTAR & others ...RESPONDENT(S)
O R D E R
1. De-tag Civil Appeal D.No. 18257 of 2014 and
Criminal Appeal No. 645 of 2013 and list them separately.
Rest of the matters:
2. Application(s) for leave to appeal under Section
31(1) of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007 is/are
allowed.
3. Delay, if any, in filing and re-filing the
appeal(s) is condoned.
4. By the present set of appeals the appellant(s)
raise the question, whether or not, an individual, who
has retired on attaining the age of superannuation or on
completion of his tenure of engagement, if found to be
suffering from some disability which is attributable to
or aggravated by the military service, is entitled to be
granted the benefit of rounding-off of
disability pension. The appellant(s) herein would contend that, on
the basis of Circular No. 1(2)/97/D(Pen-C) issued by the
Ministry of Defence, Government of India,
dated31.01.2001, the aforesaid benefit is made available only
to an Armed Forces Personnel who is invalidated out of
service, and not to any other category of Armed Forces
Personnel mentioned hereinabove.
5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties to
the lis.
6. We do not see any error in the impugned
judgment(s) and order(s) and therefore all the appeals
which pertain to the concept of rounding-off of
the disability pension are dismissed, with no order as to
costs.
7. The dismissal of these matters will be taken
note of by the High Courts as well as by the Tribunals in
granting appropriate relief to the pensioners before
them, if any, who are getting or are entitled to the
disability pension.
8. This Court grants six weeks' time from today to
the appellant(s) to comply with the orders and directions
passed by us.
Ordered accordingly.
...... CJI.
(H.L. DATTU)
...... J.
(MADAN B. LOKUR)
...... J.
(A.K. SIKRI)
NEW DELHI;
DECEMBER 10, 2014.
Annexure -C
COURT No. 1, ARMED FORCES TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
OA 1439/2016Ex. Sgt. Girish Kumar & Ors.
With MA 1085/2016…Applicants
Vs
UOI & OrsRespondents
CORAM
HON’BLE THE CHAIRPERSON
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SURENDRA VIKRAM SINGH RATHORE
HON’BLE LT.GEN. S.K. SINGH MEMBER (A)
ORDER
01.12.2017
Para 1 to 54 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Conclusions:
55.After having fully discussed the issue involved before us and to set the controversy at rest vis-à-vis arrears of Broadbanding of the disability/war injury element of disability pension on the ground of delay in filing application(s) by the individuals/applicant(s), we conclude thus:
(i)Armed forces personnel who have been invalided/superannuated/completed terms of service/discharged under normal circumstances with disability, pre or post 01.01.1996, (including the applicants) will be entitled to broad banding of disability/war injury element. Armed forces personnel who retired pre 01.01.1996 will be entitled to the arrears of broad banding with effect from 01.01.1996 and in the case of those who retired on or after 01.01.1996 will be entitled to arrears with effect from the date of their retirement;
(ii)Armed forces personnel who were premature retirees/ proceeded on premature discharge with disability will be entitled to broad banding of disability/war injury element of pension with effect from either 01.01.2006 or th date of their retirement. There will, however, be no restriction of date for premature retirees to be eligible for disability/war injury benefits since the earlier restriction on pre 01.01.2006 pre mature retirees has been struck down.
(iii)In all cases at (i) and (ii) preceding, there will be no restriction of three years on arrears and arrears will be paid according to eligibility (as stated preceding ).
The other salient conclusions are:
(a)Restriction of arrears can be applied to applicant(s) wherein he is not held entitled to disability/war injury element of pension, and such entitlement only gets established post adjudication by AFT/Courts; however, exception apart where the vested right of an individual is held to be denied the issue will be decided by AFT branches, on its own facts.
(b) All premature/ voluntary retirees will remain eligible only for disability/war injury element of pension, their service element will need to be earned independently, based on years of service rendered and held as qualified for service pension;
56.we would like to add that the respondents have their internal mechanisms in the form of first appeal and second appeal to redress the grievances of disability pension. It has been observed by us that the applications are being dismissed in a routine manner by the first and second appellate authorities; thus increasing the number of litigation in this Tribunal. When the issues have been well settled by the Apex Court in various judgments and now the larger Bench of this Tribunal has settled the issue of payment of arrears for broadbanding we hope and trust that the respondents will use this judgement to dispose of most of the cases pertaining to disability pension and payment of arrears in first and second appeals t the respondents, rather than forcing the applicants to approach this tribunal/courts this would ease the load on AFT Benches and enable them to deal with other meaningful matters before them.
57. after having considered the main issue the cases on hand shall be put up before the appropriate bench as per roster for further orders in the week commencing 11 December 2017.
Para 58 to 66 (relating to Legal Aid Mechanism) x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
67. Let copy of this order be sent to the Defence Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of India forthwith for perusal and appropriate action at the end of Ministry of Defence.
(VIRENDER SINGH )
CHAIRPERSON
(SURENDRA VIKRAM SINGH RATHORE)
MEMBER (J)
( S.K. SINGH)
MEMBER (A)
Annexure – D
Copy of PPO