Chandigarh, 13 October, 2024: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that retired armed forces personnel cannot have their disability pension arrears limited to three years if the delay in granting the pension was caused by authorities, not the claimant.
In a case brought by a retired Army officer, a Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma accentuated that pension benefits are a right and should not be reduced due to administrative delays.
The officer had challenged a decision by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), which limited his disability pension arrears to three years based on a Supreme Court ruling.
The tribunal applied a rule that capped arrears for delayed claims at three years.
The officer argued that the delay in processing his pension was not his fault but due to the authorities’ inaction.
The court agreed, stating the three-year limit does not apply when the delay is caused by the authorities.
The Bench noted that the right to pension is ongoing and cannot be cut off arbitrarily.
In this case, the delay was clearly the fault of the authorities, the court said.
