'Schizophrenic' ex-IAF man to get pension 12 years after discharge

CHENNAI: An ex-IAF person, who suffered the ignominy of earning his bread by doing "menial work" after being invalided on medical grounds because of schizophrenia, is set to receive disability pension after a decade. Providing him succour, the Chennai bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal said schizophrenia, like any other ailment, could be caused by the stress and strain of military service.
Former Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Gaddam Raja Ravi Kumar said he was recruited in the IAF in February 1997. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and invalided from service in February 2003. When he joined the service, he did not have any ailment, he said, adding that the disability was because of stress and strain of service.
The IAF did not provide him pension, medical facilities or any other means of sustenance. He was unable to find a job and his disease aggravated because of lack of finances. He said he had "become a burden to his family" and at times he did "some menial work." He also worked as a security guard for two years. Kumar approached the AFT after his representations for disability pension were rejected.
In its counter, the IAF said Kumar was found unfit for service because the symptoms of the disease persisted after medication. The medical board said his ailment was neither attributable to military service nor aggravated by it.
Rejecting the argument, a bench of Justice V Periya Karuppiah and Lt Gen K Surendra Nath last month said as Kumar did not have a history of the disease, it was "strange" that the IAF concluded the ailment as being neither attributable to, nor aggravated by, military service. It underlined that in a similar case in 2014, the Supreme Court had directed the ministry of defence to provide disability pension to a military man.
The medical review board, constituted by the AFT, said Kumar was eligible for 50% disability pension for life. The bench increased it to 75% and directed the authorities to issue a pension order and clear the arrears within three months.