HC upholds grant of liberalised family pension to kin of Army officer who died in bunker

Chandigarh, Feb 10 (PTI) The family of an Army officer, who died in his sleep inside a bunker on the international border in a notified operational area, is entitled to Liberalised Family Pension, Punjab and Haryana High Court has held, upholding the decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal.

In March 2023, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Chandigarh had enhanced pensionary benefits to Anuradha Saini, the widow of Major Sushil Kumar Saini, the deceased officer.

The high court division bench comprising Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi and Justice Vikas Suri, in a recent order, upheld the decision of the AFT.

Liberalised Family Pension, granted to soldiers who die in the line of duty, is higher than ordinary pension.

The Union government had challenged the AFT order, submitting that the Liberalised Family Pension is not granted in the present case as the officer died while sleeping inside the bunker, which cannot be treated as a death occurring in an operational area.

The counsel for the Centre had further contended that even if the death is treated to be attributable to the military service, only the benefit of the Special Family Pension can be granted and not the Liberalised Family Pension.

The high court noted that the officer was deployed on the Indo-Pak border in an operational area notified for Operation Rakshak. It also placed reliance on the findings of a Court of Inquiry.

After the officer's death, a Court of Inquiry was ordered to ascertain the cause of his death and whether it was attributable to the military service or not.

It is a conceded position between the parties that in the opinion of the Court of Inquiry, the officer's death is not only been treated to be attributable to the military service but also assessed to have occurred while performing bonafide military duty, that too during Operation Rakshak, the high court bench observed.

Once the said fact has been conceded, it cannot be said that the death of the respondent's husband did not happen while performing duties in an operational area and treat it as non-attributable to military service, while Operation Rakshak has been ordered by the Government of India, the high court bench observed.

The bench further noted the factual circumstances highlighted by the respondent, whose husband was already suffering from hypertension while performing his duties on the border. The day he died, she said, there was an infiltration attempt involving 25 Bangladeshis trying to cross the border to reach Pakistan.

The bench held that the case of the Army officer's death fell under Category E(1), which covers deaths during operations specially notified by the government from time to time.

The court observed that the officer died in a bunker while being posted at an international border under Operation Rakshak.

As per the facts of the case, on the intervening night of May 12 and 13, 1991, Major Saini checked the border posts in his area of responsibility and thereafter settled in his bunker.

About 2 am, he received information pertaining to apprehension of 25 Bangladeshis attempting to cross over to Pakistan. Major Saini contacted Subedar V V K Rao to handle the situation, escort the apprehended Bangladeshis to the border, and give a report on it.

Subedar Rao came to Major Saini's bunker at night and gave all reports to him.

Major Saini lauded him for the good work and went to sleep. On May 13 morning, the Major's assistant found him lying unconscious in his bunker. He was shifted to military hospital in Amritsar in an ambulance, where he was declared dead.

Later, Major Saini's wife was granted ordinary family pension and informed that her husband's death was neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service. She was told that he died due to acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack.

Her claim for grant of higher pension was rejected.

After a Court of Inquiry was set up, the cause of the Major's death was found attributable to military service. Following this, his wife claimed Liberalised Family Pension and the AFT ruled in her favour, which was upheld by the high court. PTI SUN RUK RUK