Special family pension is unavailable when death is found neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service.

The petitioner’s husband, an Army sepoy, died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 17 April 2014 while travelling home during annual leave.

The DGAFMS opined that the tuberculosis, arising in the context of his known HIV-positive status, was not attributable to or aggravated by military service; the authorities consequently granted ordinary family pension but rejected special family pension.

The petitioner was advised to appeal within six months but did not do so.

About ten years later, she applied to the Armed Forces Tribunal for special family pension; the Tribunal rejected the claim, and she challenged that decision by writ petition.

1. Whether the petitioner qualified for special family pension under the Pension Regulations for the Army, 2008, where her husband died of a diagnosed disease that the medical authorities found not attributable to or aggravated by service.

2. Whether the petitioner’s claim could succeed despite her failure to appeal the 2014 rejection and her subsequent delay of about ten years in approaching the Tribunal.

Under Regulation 105(a) of the Pension Regulations for the Army, 2008, special family pension may be granted where death falls within the specified categories and is due to, or hastened by, an injury or disease attributable to or aggravated by military service; attributability or aggravation is determined under the Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pensionary Awards, 2008.

Under paragraph 13(ii) of those Rules, in disease-related death cases, that determination is made by the relevant authority on the basis of the medical opinion of the DGAFMS or other prescribed medical authority.

The Court also considered Union of India v. Col. N.C. Isaac (Retd.), 2026 INSC 993, which recognises a benefit of doubt where the cause of disability is unknown and the presumption of attributability has not been rebutted; the Court distinguished that principle where the cause is known and medically assessed.

The Court relied on the DGAFMS opinion that the deceased’s pulmonary tuberculosis, in the context of established HIV positivity, formed part of the AIDS complex and was not attributable to military service.

It also noted that a 2007 Medical Board had found his immune-surveillance condition neither attributable to nor aggravated by service.

Since the cause of death and the relevant condition were known and the medical findings were against attributability and aggravation, the Court held that the benefit-of-doubt principle in Col. N.C. Isaac did not assist the petitioner.

It further observed that she had not pursued the appeal offered in 2014 and had waited about ten years to approach the Tribunal, which supported rejection of the belated claim.

The writ petition was dismissed, with no order as to costs.