Panel expresses concern over ‘large’ number of Army officers retiring with disability pension, seeks remedial measures

A report on Disability Pension in the Indian Army was tabled by the Public Accounts Committee

Chandigarh: Expressing concern over the “large” number of armed forces officers retiring with disability pension, a key parliamentary panel has asked the Ministry of Defence to analyse the root cause of the situation, a special report by Vijay Mohan in The Tribune, Chandigarh says

“Forty per cent officers retiring with disability pension and one-fifth of these being on the grounds of lifestyle diseases like hypertension, diabetes mellitus, etc does not speak well for the armed forces where physical fitness is a mandatory requirement,” a report on Disability Pension in the Indian Army tabled by the Public Accounts Committee on February 8 stated.

The committee would like to be apprised of prevalence of hypertension and diabetes in Army personnel and remedial measures suggested by the Army Medical Corps for checking these diseases in order to bring them tdown o the minimum.

The committee noted that the officers retiring with disability to the total retirees ranged between 36-40 per cent, whereas disability in the case of personnel below officer rank (PBOR) ranged between 15-18 per cent during the same period.

Further analysis of disability data furnished by the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) revealed that 21.69 per cent and 13 per cent disability out of all disability pensions were granted to officers and PBOR respectively, exclusively for lifestyle diseases.

The committee noted from the reply of the ministry that as per the Fifth National Family Health Survey, the prevalence of hypertension in India is 28.1 per cent and that of diabetes mellitus is 16.1 per cent.

On the higher number of officers vis-à-vis PBOR, the committee noted the ministry’s reply that the average retirement age of officers is 54 years while that of PBOR is 35 years.

The Committee also noted that the Entitlement Rules 2023 have strengthened the process of award of disability compensation, thereby facilitating seamless processing of entitlements while preventing any misuse, misinterpretation and dilution of disability compensation polices and framework.

The new rules, which had redefined the eligibility, process and procedure for grant of disability pension, had generated considerable debate in the service community.

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