The regional bench of Armed Forces Tribunal here has set aside an order of the Directorate General of Mechanical Forces (DGMF), Personnel, which stated the death of a soldier due to heart attack in the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir over nine years ago was a case of "physical casualty" and not "battle casualty".
The tribunal directed the Army authorities to pay ex-gratia relief and liberalised pension to the widow of soldier Naik Akhilesh Srivastava holding his death in 2009 to be a "battle casualty".
The tribunal in its September 7 order urged "the authorities not to adopt a hidebound and negative approach to such cases in future."
Srivastava had complained of severe chest pain again at 3.30 pm and was taken by helicopter to Mahore Sub-divisional Hospital where he was declared "brought dead."
The tribunal noted that the respondents have said in their affidavit-in-opposition that the case was processed to Principal Controller of Defence Account (Pension), Allahabad, for adjudication for grant of special family pension and ex-gratia payment, but was rejected by PCDA(P) stating that "the death did not occur due to any accident while performing bona fide military duty."
It also noted that the certificate rendered by the unit states that "while returning back from the operation, the individual developed chest pain due to illness caused by climatic conditions."
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