IN THE ARMED FORCES TRIBUNAL, PRINCIPAL BENCH NEW DELHI 29. OA 55 /2014 Ex Nk Singheshwar Singh...Petitioner Versus UOI & Ors For petitioner For respondents : Mr. SR Kalkal, Advocate : Mr.Prashant Sivarajan Proxy for Mr.Ankur Chhibber, Advocate...Respondents CORAM: HON BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH TATIA, CHAIRPERSON. HON BLE LT. GEN. SANJIV LANGER, MEMBER. ORDER 08.01.2015 In this petition short point is involved which is with respect to the petitioner s right to get the benefit of rounding off of the disability pension in view of the Government s letter dated 31.01.2001 which has been denied to the petitioner on the ground that petitioner took the voluntary retirement. 2. It will be worthwhile to note the facts and the reasons of preferring this OA. 3. Petitioner was enrolled in regular Army on 03.11.1983 and petitioner took the voluntary retirement with effect from 07.05.2009 because of his disability and because of his undergoing the by-pass surgery.
The petitioner s claim for disability pension was rejected and, therefore, petitioner filed one writ petition before Hon ble Delhi High Court being Writ Petition (Civil) No.9186/2009. Petitioner s said writ petition was allowed by the Hon ble Delhi High Court vide judgment dated 28.08.2009. In the said writ petition the respondents again took the stand that since petitioner sought voluntary retirement, therefore, he is not entitled to the disability pension. The stand of the respondents was condemned by the Hon ble Delhi High Court and the petitioner s said writ petition No.9186/2009 was allowed by the judgment dated 28.08.2009 with costs of Rs.25,000/- and the Hon ble Division Bench of the Delhi High Court observed that the respondents took the stand inconsistent with the settled legal position. Now the petitioner has approached this Tribunal because petitioner claimed for rounding off of the disability pension in the light of the Government s order dated 31.01.2001 as well as subsequent letter dated 15.09.2014 which purported to give retrospective benefit to the claimants for broad banding of disability pension. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted
that after the judgment of the Hon be Supreme Court delivered in Civil appeal No.418/2012 Union of India & Others Vs. Ram Avtar dated 10.12.2014, the issue is no more res inte gra as the Hon ble Supreme Court dismissed hundreds of SLPs preferred by the Union of India challenging the award of rounding off of the disability pension to the persons, including the persons who were assessed medically disabled at the time of superannuation or on completion of tenure of engagement as well as the persons who themselves sought voluntary retirement and specifically held as under :- 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 3. By this brief judgment, the Hon ble Supreme Court has rejected the respondents/union of India s contention that the benefit of rounding off of disability pension is only available to the Armed Forces persons who are invalidated out of service and not to any other category of Armed Forces personnel.
4. In view of the above reasons, nothing survives so as to be decided by this Tribunal. 5. It will be worthwhile to note that respondents even after Ram Avtar s case, in other cases, earlier submitted that matters of premature retiree and their claim of rounding off of the disability pension were separated from the bunch of the appeals decided by the Hon ble Supreme Court which were taged alongwith Ram Avtar s case but from the judgment of the Ram Avtar s case it appears that only one Civil Appeal No.D.18257/2014 and another Criminal Appeal No.645/2013 were separated. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that subsequently on 13.12.2014 itself the Civil Appeal No.D.18257/2014 was also dismissed. Therefore, the question of rounding off of the disability pension of persons who sought voluntary retirement is also stand concluded decided by the Hon ble Supreme Court.
6. In view of the above reasons and the judgement of the Hon ble Supreme Court holding that the concept of rounding off of the disability pension is applicable to all persons who are eligible for disability pension, this OA deserves to be allowed. Therefore, it is held that the petitioner shall be entitled to the benefit of rounding off of the disability pension. It is also held that the petitioner shall be entitled to the benefit of rounding off of the disability pension w.e.f. 01.04.2002 from the date of retirement with interest @12% p.a. over the arrears. 7. Learned counsel for the Union of India orally prayed for grant of leave to appeal before the Hon ble Supreme Court. Since it appears that there is standing instructions to seek leave to appeal in all cases, therefore, this prayer may have been made by the learned counsel for the Union of India but this has been made in spite of the fact that the Hon ble Supreme Court in a recent judgement in the case of Ram Avtar, decided the controversy finally. Be it as it may, we do not find any question of law of public
importance involved in this matter, therefore, the oral prayer for grant of leave to appeal is rejected. (PRAKASH TATIA) CHAIRPERSON 8th h Jan 2015 Chanana/MLB (SANJIV LANGER) MEMBER