Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Ex. Cpl. T.S. Samuel vs Union Of India . on 11 November, 2016
Author: Chief Justice
Bench: Chief Justice, Shiva Kirti Singh
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
I.A.No.1/2016 IN
CIVIL APPEAL D.NO.26870 OF 2016
EX. CPL. T.S. SAMUEL Appellant(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. Respondent(s)
O R D E R
The application for seeking leave to appeal is allowed. This appeal arises out of a final judgment and order dated 23rd May, 2016 passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal, Regional Bench, Kochi in O.A. No.117 of 2015 and M.A.No.361 of 2016 dated 27th June, 2016. The facts giving rise to the controversy in this appeal have been set out in the impugned order passed by the Tribunal which need not be recaptulated in extenso. All that we need mention is that the appellant after his retirement from Indian Air Force was granted pension due to him sometime in September, 1970 and continued to be paid pension till 31st August, 1972 when the payment of the pension amount to the appellant was stopped ostensibly on account of the fact that the appellant had migrated to the United States of America. The appellant's case before the Tribunal was that his migration to America and taking up the citizenship of that country had nothing to do with his entitlement to receive pension otherwise admissible to him. He appears to have addressed a communication to the authorities sometime in the year Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by DEEPAK MANSUKHANI Date: 2016.11.30 13:36:56 IST 2006 in that regard seeking restoration of his pension. Reason:
Since the needful was not done he was left with no option but to file an 2 Original Application No.17 of 2015 before the Armed Forces Tribunal, Regional Bench, Kochi seeking restoration of pension and payment of arrears due to him. The Tribunal upon examination of the matter granted relief to the appellant and directed the respondent to restore the pension of the appellant with effect from 1st September, 1972 or from the date upto which the pension was last disbursed to him with all consequential benefits like revision of pension during intervening period in terms of recommendations of the Pay Commission. The Tribunal, however, declined payment of arrears to the appellant except to the extent of three years prior to the date of the filing of the O.A.NO.17 of 2015 in the Tribunal. The Tribunal observed as under:
“In view of the foregoing the Original Application is partly allowed. The applicant is directed to submit a fresh application to Respondents forwarding all the requisite details including details of bank through which he would like to receive the pension within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. On receipt of the appeal, the respondents are directed to restore pension of the applicant with effect from 01 September 1972 or from the date upto which the pension was last disbursed, with all consequential benefits like revision of pension which has taken place in view of various recommendations of Pay Commissions and issue the necessary amended PPO. The arrears of pension would however be restricted to the date of filing of the OA, in accordance with the order dated 06 November 2015 rendered by this Bench in MA.No.347 of 2015, while condoning the inordinate delay. The entire process is to be completed within a period of four months from the date of receipt of the application, failing which the unpaid amount will carry a simple interest at the rate of 8% per annum.” The appellant then applied for permission to file a certificate of fitness for filing an appeal which was declined. The present Appeal filed by the appellant resultantly challenges 3 order dated 23.05.2016 passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal.
Learned counsel for the appellant drew our attention to the order of the Tribunal passed in M.A. No.347 OF 2015 whereby the Tribunal held that the arrears of pension would be restricted to the date of filing of the O.A. in accordance with its order dated 6.11.2015. It was submitted that while condoning the delay by order dated 6.11.2015 no condition as regards arrears of pension was imposed by the Tribunal nor was any direction issued in the said order to the effect that the appellant shall be disentitled to arrears of pension if he succeeded in the O.A. There is, in our opinion, considerable merits in that contention. The order passed by the Tribunal declining arrears is predicated on its order passed in M.A.No.347 of 2015. It appears as if order passed by the Tribunal in MA.No.347 of 2015 was an impediment in awarding full arrears to the appellant. The order passed by the Tribunal on the application for condonation does not contain however, any such stipulation. The order passed by the Tribunal in MA.No.347 of 2015 does not even make any mention about the entitlement of the appellant to claim arrears. In that view therefore the solitary ground on which the Tribunal had declined arrears does not appear to be sustainable. This necessarily implies that the Tribunal may have to look into the question again whether the appellant is entitled to arrears of pension for the period prior to the filing of the appeal.
In the result, the order passed by the Tribunal is set aside 4 and the matter remitted to the Tribunal with the request to examine the limited question regarding entitlement of the appellant to claim arrears of pension for the period prior to the filing of the O.A. The parties are directed to appear before the Tribunal on 5th December, 2016.
The appeal is, accordingly, disposed of. No costs.
….....................CJI (T.S. THAKUR) …......................J. (SHIVA KIRTI SINGH) New Delhi, November 11, 2016 5 ITEM NO.24 COURT NO.1 SECTION XVII S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS I.A.No. 1/2016 in Civil Appeal Diary No.26870/2016 EX. CPL. T.S. SAMUEL Appellant(s) VERSUS UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. Respondent(s) (Appln.(s) for leave to appeal u/s 31(1) of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007 and office report) Date : 11/11/2016 This application was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHIVA KIRTI SINGH For Appellant(s) Mr. R. Bala Subramanian, Adv.
Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, Adv, Mr. Prabhas Bajaj, Adv.
Mr. Ananya Mishra, Adv.
Ms. Aarti Sharma, Adv.
Mr. M.K. Maroria, Adv.
Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker,Adv.
For Respondent(s) UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R The application for seeking leave to appeal is allowed.
The appeal is disposed of. No costs.
(USHA BHARDWAJ) (TAPAN KUMAR CHAKRABORTY)
AR-CUM-PS COURT MASTER
Signed order is placed on the file.