Army Veteran With Generalized Seizures Gets Lifetime 50% Disability Pension, As Delhi HC Finds No Disease Recorded At Enrolment

The petitioner was enrolled in the Indian Army in 1996 and had no recorded disease or disability on entry.

In 2010, while in service, he was diagnosed with “Generalized Seizure” and placed in a low medical category.

A Release Medical Board (RMB) assessed the disability at 20% but found it neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service.

He was discharged on medical grounds on 31 December 2011 after 15 years and 23 days of service.

The respondents denied disability pension, and the Armed Forces Tribunal dismissed his application. The petitioner challenged that decision before the High Court.

Under the Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pensionary Awards, 1982, including Rules 5, 9 and 14(b), a servicemember is presumed to have been in sound physical and mental condition on entry if no contrary condition was recorded; the claimant is not required to prove entitlement and receives the benefit of reasonable doubt; and a disease leading to discharge is ordinarily deemed to have arisen in service if it was not noted at entry.

In Dharamvir Singh v. Union of India, (2013) 7 SCC 316, and Union of India v. Rajbir Singh, (2015) 12 SCC 264, the Supreme Court held that, where a member is discharged on medical grounds, the employer bears the burden of rebutting the presumption of attributability or aggravation, with reasons supporting the Medical Board’s contrary opinion.

The Court also referred to Union of India v. Col. NC Isaac (Retd.), 2026 SCC OnLine SC 1895, which held that the 2008 Entitlement Rules retain the claimant-protective structure and place the primary burden on the establishment.

The petitioner had no recorded disease on entry, developed Generalized Seizure during service, and was discharged on medical grounds with a disability assessed at 20%.

Applying Dharamvir Singh and Rajbir Singh, the Court held that the presumption of sound health at entry and the consequent presumption of service-related deterioration remained unrebutted.

The RMB’s conclusion that the disability was neither attributable to nor aggravated by service did not displace that presumption in the absence of a pre-entry record or reasons sufficient to establish that the disability was unrelated to service.

The Court therefore rejected the Tribunal’s conclusion that no causal connection existed.

It directed payment of arrears within three months, failing which interest at 6% per annum would accrue until payment.