The Indian Express ·
Forced out after 7 years in Army, court grants pension relief to soldier’s widow 4 decades on
The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld an invalid pension relief for a soldier who was invalided out of service after seven years, rejecting the 10-year service mandate.
A soldier who joined the Army in 1971 was invalided out of service after seven years. Nearly 42 years later, his widow approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), seeking pension benefits available to personnel forced to leave service because of permanent incapacity. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now held that such pension cannot be denied solely because the soldier had not completed 10 years of qualifying service.
Justices Harsimran Singh Sethi and Minderjeet Yadav were hearing a petition filed by the Union of India challenging the February 20, 2025 order of the AFT, which had granted Hakam Singh the benefit of invalid pension during his lifetime and ordinary family pension after that to his widow.
“Once, as per the settled principle of law settled in P A Thomas, it is well established that the invalid pension is admissible even prior to the completion of 10 years of qualifying service,” the high court said on September 3, referring to a Supreme Court ruling, and rejected the Union’s objection based on the deceased soldier’s length of service.
