Give pension to airman: Regional Bench of Armed Forces Tribunal to Indian Air Force

Chennai: The Regional Bench of Armed Forces Tribunal, Chennai, has directed Indian Air Force to provide pension to an airman 22 years after he was sacked from the service. He was removed from IAF after he was found having colour blindness. In the petition, Shaikh Sirajuddin, 49, Mukkadipet, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh submitted that he was enrolled in IAF in 1985. After serving for 10 years, 2 months and 24 days he was invalided out from service on July 21, 1995 for “being medically unfit for MTD and unwilling to remuster to any other lower trade”.

He was diagnosed as person with colour vision defective. As a result he was not able to recognize red and green lights. Sirajuddin said that he was not served the certificate of discharge and medical board proceedings. Hence, was unable to file appeal before authorities in time. He submitted his first appeal only on October 21, 2016 with the Directorate of Air Veterans, New Delhi. The bench said that in accordance with the Air Force Regulations, 1961, a person who had served for more than ten years and invalided out from service with disability neither attributable to nor aggravated by service may be granted invalid pension. Since he served for more than ten years of service, we find that he is entitled to invalid pension with effect from March 31, 2014.