Rounding off cannot confer disability pension where service-attributable disability is below 20%.

The respondent, an Ex-Sepoy enrolled in the Territorial Army, was discharged on 31 January 2021 upon completion of his terms of engagement under Section 8 of the Territorial Army Act and Rule 14-A of the Territorial Army Regulations, 1948.

Before discharge, the Release Medical Board assessed him with: (i) post-traumatic raw area of the right middle, ring and little fingers, assessed at 14% for life and attributable to military service; (ii) simple obesity, assessed at 5% and neither attributable to nor aggravated by service; and (iii) a composite disability of 18% for life.

Although he was sanctioned service pension, his claim for the disability element was rejected because the service-attributable disability was below the 20% threshold prescribed under the applicable pension regulations.

The Armed Forces Tribunal, Srinagar Bench at Jammu, allowed his OA No. 77/2022 and directed that his disability be treated as 20% and rounded off to 50% from 1 February 2021.

The Union of India challenged that order before the High Court.

Whether a person discharged on completion of his terms of engagement is entitled to the disability element of pension where the disability attributable to military service is assessed at 14%, below the statutory minimum of 20%.

Whether the principle of rounding-off can be applied to elevate a disability below 20% to the qualifying threshold and thereafter round it off to 50%.

Regulation 173 of the Pension Regulations for the Army, 1961, as revised by Regulation 53(a) of the Pension Regulations for the Army, 2008 (Part I), provides that a disability element is payable to an individual released, retired or discharged on completion of engagement only where the disability attributable to or aggravated by military service is assessed at 20% or more.

The Supreme Court in Union of India v. Wing Commander S.P. Rathore, (2019) 19 SCC 84, held that rounding-off cannot be invoked where the disability is below 20%, because a person not otherwise entitled to disability pension cannot claim rounding-off.

Although Sukhvinder Singh v. Union of India, (2014) 14 SCC 364, and Union of India v. Ram Avtar, 2014 SCC OnLine SC 1761, recognise the principle of rounding-off in appropriate cases, that principle operates only after eligibility for disability pension has been established.

The competent Release Medical Board assessed the respondent’s service-attributable disability at only 14%, notwithstanding the composite disability assessment of 18%.

Since Regulation 53(a) requires an accepted disability of at least 20%, the respondent did not satisfy the basic eligibility condition for the disability element.

The High Court held that the AFT erred by first treating the 14% disability as 20% and then applying rounding-off to 50%; rounding-off cannot be used to cross the minimum statutory threshold.

The respondent’s discharge on completion of his engagement, rather than invalidation on account of disability, further placed the case within the specific requirements of Regulation 53(a).

Accordingly, the AFT’s reliance on Sukhvinder Singh and Ram Avtar was held to be misplaced in light of the rule stated in S.P. Rathore.

It held that a service-attributable disability assessed at 14% does not entitle the respondent to the disability element of pension, and that rounding-off cannot be applied to reach the 20% eligibility threshold.

The writ petition was allowed, the AFT’s order dated 8 December 2022 in OA No. 77/2022 was set aside, and the rejection of the respondent’s claim by the competent authority was upheld.