UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS vs LT COL AJAY KUMAR RETD

Judgment text excerpt

$~196 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision : 30.03.2026 + W.P.(C) 4126/2026 CM APPL. 20137-20140/2026 UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS .....Petitioners Through: Ms. Puja S. Kalra, CGSC Major Kanika Sharma, Army versus LT COL AJAY KUMAR RETD .....Respondent Through: None CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V. KAMESWAR RAO HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J. (ORAL) CM APPL. 20139-20140/2026 (exemption) 1. Exemption is allowed subject to all just exceptions. 2. The applications are disposed of. W.P.(C) 4126/2026 3. This is a writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India against the order dated 15.10.2024 [‘impugned order’] passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal Principal Bench, New Delhi [‘Tribunal’] in Original Application [‘O.A.’] No. 3998/2023 titled as Lt. Col Ajay Kumar (Retd.) v. Union of India & Ors., wherein the Respondent has been granted the benefit of the disability element of pension for Primary Hypertension assessed at 30% for life, rounded off to 50% for life, from the date of his Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 4126/2026 Page 1 of 9 Signed By:MOHIT Signing Date:07.04.2026 17:51 discharge from the service. 4. The facts giving rise to the present petition are that the Respondent was discharged from the service on 25.02.2023 on completion of contractual tenure. 5. The Release Medical Board [‘RMB’] held on 19.12.2022 assessed the disability i.e., Primary Hypertension at 30% for life and opined that the disability was aggravated by military service due to stress and strain in Fd/CI Ops areas and then forwarded the case to competent authority for statutory adjudication. The competent authority, thereafter, held that the disability is Neither Attributable Nor Aggravated [‘NANA’] by the military serv