UNION OF INDIA & ORS. vs JC- 805086 P EX NB SUB KULDIP SINGH, RETD.

Judgment text excerpt

$~78 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 14167/2025 and CM APPLs. 58108-109/2025 UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Ranjeev Khatana, SPC with Mr. Muskan Khatana, Adv. and Major Anish Muralidhar (JAG) and Captain Carolin Johnson versus JC- 805086 P EX NB SUB KULDIP SINGH, RETD. .....Respondent Through: CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE OM PRAKASH SHUKLA JUDGMENT(ORAL) % 15.09.2025 C. HARI SHANKAR, J. 1. At the outset, learned counsel for the UOI has drawn our attention to order dated 11 September 2025 passed by the Supreme Court in SLP(C) Diary No.42267/2025, which also involved a challenge to an order according disability pension passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The order reads thus : “1. Delay condoned. 2. The submission of the learned counsel is that there existed material on record in the form of medical board opinion that two disabilities, namely, Non-Compressive Myelopathy and Primary Hypertension, were neither attributable to nor aggravated by W.P.(C) 14167/2025 Page 1 of 10 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:AJIT KUMAR Signing Date:17.09.2025 18:16:39 military service. As far as the third disability, namely, Hypothyroidism, is concerned, it was below 10 per cent and, therefore, it does not make the respondent eligible for disability entitlement. It has also been submitted that even in the earlier decisions of this Court in Dharambir Singh and Rajbir, the presumption that disability was attributable to or aggravated by military service was rebuttable and, therefore, when the report of the medical board was there on record, this presumption stood rebutted and, in such circumstances, both the Tribunal as well as the High Court fell in error in awarding the disability entitlement. 3