In Brief
A Havildar in the Indian Army completed 24 years of service and was granted a two-year extension. During the extension, he suffered a stroke, was categorized with 80% disability (later rounded to 100%), and was discharged. The Armed Forces Tribunal granted him disability pension under Regulation 173-A of the Pension Regulations, which deems persons discharged from low medical categories as invalidated from service for pension purposes. However, the appellant sought ex-gratia compensation of Rs. 9 lakhs under a 2011 policy. The Supreme Court held that the deeming fiction in Regulation 173-A applies only to disability pension eligibility and does not extend to ex-gratia compensation, which requires actual attribution of disability to military service. Since the appellant's disability was not found attributable to service, he did not qualify for ex-gratia payment despite receiving disability pension.
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