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On a petition by the mother, the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal comprising Justice MS Chauhan and Lt Gen Munish Sibal has issued a notice of motion.
In an extreme case of insensitivity, the defence accounts department has conveyed to the mother of a soldier who died when he fell into a raging river while patrolling the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, that she would not be released pensionary benefits till his dead body was found.
The pension disbursing authority’s order came despite the soldier having been declared “presumed dead” and a “battle casualty” by the Army. However, the accounts office said that since he was merely ‘missing’ and not ‘dead’ and that pension will not be granted.
On a petition by the mother belonging to Himachal Pradesh, Kamla Devi, the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal comprising Justice MS Chauhan and Lt Gen Munish Sibal has issued a notice of motion.
Kamla Devi’s son, Rifleman Rinku Ram of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, while on operational patrolling duty in a treacherous terrain on LAC, slipped and fell into the raging waters of a river in November 2009. The area is such which makes retrieval of bodies impossible. The death was duly declared a ‘battle casualty’ by the military and executive authorities, since as per rules, deaths due to drowning, avalanches, floods etc in operational areas are treated as battle casualties. He was also declared ‘dead’ with the consequent issuance of a death certificate by the Army.
But there was more heartbreak in store and Rinku Ram’s parents have been sadistically made to go round in circles since 2009. When the papers were sent to the office of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) in Allahabad for releasing pension, the said office rejected the claim on the pretext that the soldier could not be treated as ‘dead’ since his dead body had not been recovered and he was still ‘missing’.
Repeated requests from even serving Generals of the Army had no effect on accountants who kept repeating that ordinary family pension would not be released to the mother because the father of the late soldier was a pensioner while liberalized family pension would not be released since he was ‘missing’ and not ‘dead’. Even ex-gratia lumpsum compensation that is granted to all deaths in the course of performance of duties was not released despite several requests.
Legal experts familiar with such matters say that this is a shocking case wherein in effect the accounts officers are stating that the family should first jump and then retrieve the body from the river that flows into China, and the corpse should then be shown as proof to them in order to get the admissible dues.
“There are numerous cases that are rejected by Defence Accounts Department due to a hyper-technical and negative interpretation of beneficial rules even after being sanctioned by executive authorities and being covered by judicial dicta,” said a lawyer. A Committee of Experts constituted by the then Defence Minister, Mahohar Parrikar, had in 2015 strongly deprecated the attitude of Defence Accounts Department by remarking, “We are at a loss to comprehend why negative energy and multiple reams of papers should be wasted on such issues concerning benefits of soldiers and deceased soldiers, which are anyway minor from the organizational point of view, when there are much more important financial matters worth pondering over. We find it difficult to digest as to how logic itself is being stretched to illogical limits due to an all-pervasive pessimistic environment just to deny benefits to our men and women in uniform.”
http://indianexpress.com/article/ci...d-body-to-claim-benefit-china-border-5119809/
In an extreme case of insensitivity, the defence accounts department has conveyed to the mother of a soldier who died when he fell into a raging river while patrolling the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, that she would not be released pensionary benefits till his dead body was found.
The pension disbursing authority’s order came despite the soldier having been declared “presumed dead” and a “battle casualty” by the Army. However, the accounts office said that since he was merely ‘missing’ and not ‘dead’ and that pension will not be granted.
On a petition by the mother belonging to Himachal Pradesh, Kamla Devi, the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal comprising Justice MS Chauhan and Lt Gen Munish Sibal has issued a notice of motion.
Kamla Devi’s son, Rifleman Rinku Ram of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, while on operational patrolling duty in a treacherous terrain on LAC, slipped and fell into the raging waters of a river in November 2009. The area is such which makes retrieval of bodies impossible. The death was duly declared a ‘battle casualty’ by the military and executive authorities, since as per rules, deaths due to drowning, avalanches, floods etc in operational areas are treated as battle casualties. He was also declared ‘dead’ with the consequent issuance of a death certificate by the Army.
But there was more heartbreak in store and Rinku Ram’s parents have been sadistically made to go round in circles since 2009. When the papers were sent to the office of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) in Allahabad for releasing pension, the said office rejected the claim on the pretext that the soldier could not be treated as ‘dead’ since his dead body had not been recovered and he was still ‘missing’.
Repeated requests from even serving Generals of the Army had no effect on accountants who kept repeating that ordinary family pension would not be released to the mother because the father of the late soldier was a pensioner while liberalized family pension would not be released since he was ‘missing’ and not ‘dead’. Even ex-gratia lumpsum compensation that is granted to all deaths in the course of performance of duties was not released despite several requests.
Legal experts familiar with such matters say that this is a shocking case wherein in effect the accounts officers are stating that the family should first jump and then retrieve the body from the river that flows into China, and the corpse should then be shown as proof to them in order to get the admissible dues.
“There are numerous cases that are rejected by Defence Accounts Department due to a hyper-technical and negative interpretation of beneficial rules even after being sanctioned by executive authorities and being covered by judicial dicta,” said a lawyer. A Committee of Experts constituted by the then Defence Minister, Mahohar Parrikar, had in 2015 strongly deprecated the attitude of Defence Accounts Department by remarking, “We are at a loss to comprehend why negative energy and multiple reams of papers should be wasted on such issues concerning benefits of soldiers and deceased soldiers, which are anyway minor from the organizational point of view, when there are much more important financial matters worth pondering over. We find it difficult to digest as to how logic itself is being stretched to illogical limits due to an all-pervasive pessimistic environment just to deny benefits to our men and women in uniform.”
http://indianexpress.com/article/ci...d-body-to-claim-benefit-china-border-5119809/
