New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 30) came down heavily on the Centre for dragging retired members of the armed forces to court and asked it to frame a policy on the issue.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said this while hearing an appeal filed by the Centre against an order of the Armed Forces Tribunal ordering grant of disability pension to a retired radio fitter.
The bench said that it has come across several cases in which absolutely frivolous appeals are being filed and the morale of the armed forces couldn’t be let down by filing such appeals against the relief.
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There ought to be some scrutiny before a decision is taken to file an appeal: Apex Court
The bench further said that each and every member of the armed forces getting relief of disability pension by the armed forces tribunal should not be dragged to the court and there ought to be some scrutiny before a decision is taken to file an appeal and some pragmatic view has to be taken.
Some pragmatic view has to be taken: Apex Court
“Some pragmatic view has to be taken. An army personnel works for 15, 20 years and if there is some disability and the Armed Forces Tribunal orders to pay a disability pension. Why should these persons be dragged to the Supreme Court?” the bench asked.
“We are of the view that the Centre must evolve a policy. There has to be some scrutiny before a decision is taken to drag members of the armed forces to the Supreme Court,” the bench added.
Apex court earlier also pulled up Centre on the issue
The apex court earlier, while hearing an appeal filed by the Centre against armed forces tribunal, pulled up the Centre, saying that the widow of a deceased soldier ought not to have been dragged to the top court and the decision-making authority ought to have been sympathetic to the widow of a deceased soldier who died in harness.
“In our view, in a case like this, the respondent (widow of deceased soldier) ought not to have been dragged to this court, and the decision-making authority of the appellants ought to have been sympathetic to the widow of a deceased soldier who died in harness. Therefore, we propose to impose costs quantified as Rs.50,000, which will be payable to the respondent,” the apex court had said earlier.
