Punjab & Haryana High Court Upholds AFT Order Granting Disability Pension; Says Hypertension During Long Service Presumed Attributable to Military Duty

Case Name: Union of India & Others vs. Ex Sub Maj Narendra Singh Kushwaha & Another
Date of Judgment: 02 December 2025
Citation: CWP-35848-2025
Bench: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Vikas Suri

Held: The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the Union of India’s challenge to an Armed Forces Tribunal order granting disability pension and rounding off benefits to an ex-serviceman suffering from primary hypertension. The Court held that once a soldier is enrolled in a medically fit condition and later develops a disease during service, the disability is presumed to be attributable to military service unless rebutted by cogent evidence.

Summary: The respondent, released from service after completing thirty-one years, was denied disability pension on the ground that his hypertension was neither attributable to nor aggravated by service. The Tribunal allowed his claim and granted rounding off of disability from thirty percent to fifty percent. The Union of India challenged the order, relying on the medical board’s opinion.

The High Court rejected the challenge, reiterating that the law laid down in Dharamvir Singh, Ram Avtar, and the recent Supreme Court ruling in Reet M.P. Singh mandates a presumption in favour of attributability when a soldier was found fit at enrolment and later develops a disability during service. The Court observed that the medical board had not provided any reasoning to dislodge this presumption and that a bare assertion that the disability was “not related to service” carried no evidentiary value. It further noted that the issue of rounding off is no longer res integra, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that all eligible ex-servicemen are entitled to rounding off regardless of mode of discharge.

Decision: Finding no perversity or legal error in the Tribunal’s order, the High Court dismissed the writ petition and affirmed the grant of disability pension and rounding off benefits to the respondent.