In Brief
The Supreme Court resolved conflicting decisions of the Armed Forces Tribunal regarding arrears of disability pension payable to ex-servicemen. The Court held that disability pension is a vested substantive right, not ex-gratia bounty. Once the right to broad-banding of disability pension was judicially affirmed by the Court's 2014 decision in Ram Avtar, entitlement to full arrears cannot be restricted by limitation periods or laches. The Court rejected the government's argument to cap arrears to three years, finding it would amount to unlawful deprivation of property. Ex-servicemen are entitled to arrears from specified cut-off dates (1996 or 2006) with 6% interest, as the government itself had acknowledged through policy decisions before contesting individual claims.
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