CHANDIGARH: A former sailor of the Indian Navy who is disabled and living in extreme penury has been waiting for the last 10 years for his pension to begin, even after winning his case at the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) and the Supreme Court. Instead of releasing his pension, the Navy moved an application in the AFT to again delay the process. This bid was dismissed by the tribunal this week.
Mohinder Pal Singh was “invalided” out of the Indian Navy in 1995 with 40% disability for ‘psychosis,’ without any pension. He approached the Punjab and Haryana HC in 2001. The case was transferred to the AFT in 2010. In 2011, AFT ordered the Navy to release his disability pension and arrears of three years prior to filing of the writ petition in the HC.
The Navy then filed an appeal in Supreme Court. In 2019, the defence minister directed the defence services to withdraw appeals against disabled personnel and the appeal was “dismissed as withdrawn” by the top court. Despite the dismissal of the appeal, Singh’s pension was not released.