CHANDIGARH: If a soldier dies in an accident in non-duty hours and there was no negligence on his part, he will be deemed to be on duty, and his family will be entitled to special family pension, the Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled.
“We find that where an accident has occurred, resulting in death or injury to an Army personnel, he shall be deemed to be on duty and the benefit would be given more liberally, provided such death or injury was caused without his personal involvement in any manner in aggravating such an accident,” the HC has held.
Division bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Meenakshi I Mehta has passed these orders while dismissing a petition filed by the central govt.
The Centre had challenged the order dated April 19, 2023, passed by Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Chandigarh, ordering of grant special family pension to Kanta Devi, who had lost her son in a road accident.
Her son was enrolled in the Army on Sep 8, 2002, in a fit state of health and was posted to 13 Dogra regiment as a sepoy. He had proceeded on annual leave for 36 days from Jan 1, 2004, to Feb 6, 2004.
On Jan 29, 2004, while he went to the railway station on his motorcycle for confirming his reservation for the return journey, he met with an accident with a bus in Ropar district of Punjab, resulting in a head injury which led to his death.
The Court of Inquiry (COI) held on March 24, 2004, to investigate the circumstances under which he sustained head injury during leave, did not hold the deceased sepoy careless or negligent or responsible for the accident.
After his death, Kanta Devi requested special family pension, but the army denied her request. She then approached the AFT Chandigarh, which ordered the Centre to grant her special family pension.
Aggrieved by the AFT orders, the Centre filed a petition before the HC vehemently arguing that the case of the deceased does not fall within the Clause(f), below Note 2 to Rule 12 of the Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pensionary Awards, 1982, as the accident cannot be said to come within the four-corners of employment.
After hearing all the parties, the HC held that since the COI showed that th soldier was neither careless, nor negligent while driving his motorcycle, his mother would be entitled to Special Family Pension as the injury could be treated to have been caused while on duty.
