Union of India v. Jarnail Singh, 2024 SCC OnLine P&H 14114, Punjab and Haryana High Court (Division Bench of Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Sudeepti Sharma), decided 27 November 2024.
Background
A soldier who enrolled in 1988 in good health developed sensorineural hearing loss during service, assessed at under 20% and declared service-aggravated. He sought discharge on extreme compassionate grounds, granted in November 2007 before his engagement term ended. His disability element was rejected because the assessed disability fell below the 20% threshold; his appeal was also denied. The AFT ruled in his favour, and the Union challenged that order.
What the High Court Held
The High Court dismissed the Union’s petition and upheld disability pension at 50% with arrears. Applying Sukhvinder Singh v. Union of India (2014), it held that a service-connected disability assessed below 20% is deemed to be 20% and rounded off to 50%. The bench pointedly observed that the “Army authorities chose to relieve themselves from onerous obligations” by treating the compassionate discharge as ending pension liability, the route of exit does not erase statutory obligations for a service-aggravated disability, particularly where the soldier’s record was clean.
What This Means for Armed Forces Personnel
Two takeaways. First, a disability percentage below 20% is not the end of the road, where the disability is attributable to or aggravated by service, rounding to 50% applies. Second, taking discharge on compassionate grounds (or other voluntary exit routes) does not disqualify you from the disability element. Rejections on either ground are worth challenging.
This summary is general information about a publicly reported judgment, not legal advice, and does not create an advocate, client relationship. Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.