Union of India & Ors. Vs Hfo Retd Hradyesh Kumar Varshney

Through: Ms. Radhika Bishwajit Dubey, CGSC with Ms. Gurleen Kaur Waraich, Mr. Kritarth Upadhyay, Mr. Vivek Sharma, Ms. Khushi and Mr. Saksham Sharma, Advs.

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¶19

with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶20

versus

¶21

HFO RETD HRADYESH KUMAR VARSHNEY .....Respondent Through: Mr. Praveen Kumar, Adv.

¶22

- W.P.(C) 824/2025, CM APPL. 4067/2025

¶23

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶24

Through: Mr. Piyush Gupta CGSC with Mr. Atishay Jain, Mr. Abhay Thukral, Ms. Sakshi Chhabra and Ms. Vasudha Kumar, Advs. with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶25

versus

¶26

EX WO SADANANDA RAUTRAY 633050 R .....Respondent Through:

¶27

- W.P.(C) 990/2025, CM APPL. 4935/2025

¶28

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶29

Through: Mr. Jagdish Chandra, CGSC with Mr. Sujeet Kumar Choudhary, Adv. with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶30

versus

¶31

EX SGT MUKESH KUMAR PANDEY (SER NO 795766-A) .....Respondent Through:

¶32

- W.P.(C) 1019/2025, CM APPL. 5057/2025

¶33

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¶35

UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

¶36

.....Petitioners

¶37

Through: Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶38

versus

¶39

EX MWO VIJENDER SINGH TEOTIA .....Respondent

¶40

Through:

¶41

W.P.(C) 1031/2025, CM APPL. 5106/2025

¶42

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶43

Through: Mr. Raghvendra Shukla Sr. PC for UOI with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶44

versus

¶45

634793 HFL NARAYANASAMY NAMMALWAR (RETD.) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta and Ms. Esha Mehrotra, Advs.

¶46

- W.P.(C) 1277/2025, CM APPL. 6317/2025

¶47

UNION OF INDIA THROUGH ITS SECRETARY, & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶48

Through: Mr. Theepa Murugesan, Sr. PC with Ms. Sanya Bhatia, Adv. for UOI with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶49

versus

¶50

772697 SGT PINAKI CHOUDHURY(RETD) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Baljeet Singh and Mr. A.K. Chaudhary, Advs.

¶51

W.P.(C) 1279/2025, CM APPL. 6321/2025

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UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶55

Through: Ms. Seema Gulati, Sr. PC with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶56

versus

¶57

EX MWO HFL AMRIT LAL SEKHRI .....Respondent Through: Mr. Baljeet Singh and Mr. A.K. Chaudhary, Advs.

¶58

W.P.(C) 1468/2025, CM APPL. 7108/2025

¶59

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶60

Through: Mr. Satya Ranjan Swain, Sr. PC with Mr. Kautilya Birat, Mr. Ankush Kapoor and Mr. Vishwadeep Chandrakar, Advs. with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶61

versus

¶62

GP CAPT VINAY SAREEN .....Respondent Through: Mr. Ajai Bhalla and Ms. Aditi Laxman, Advs.

¶63

W.P.(C) 1472/2025, CM APPL. 7114/2025

¶64

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS .....Petitioners

¶65

Through: Mr. Shubham Mahajan, Sr. PC for UOI with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶66

versus

¶67

EX WO SURENDRA KUMAR SINGH 676264 .....Respondent Through: Mr. Shiv Ram Singh, Mr. Girindra Kumar Pathak and Mr. Hem Kumar, Advs.

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- W.P.(C) 1707/2025, CM APPL. 8249/2025 UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶71

Through: Mr. Jagdish Chandra, CGSC with Mr. Sujeet Kumar Choudhary, Adv. with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶72

versus

¶73

EX MWO BIJAY KUMAR SAH (SER NO 628234 B) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Tatsat Shukla and Mr. Ram Jivan Dixit, Advs.

¶74

W.P.(C) 1724/2025, CM APPL. 8338/2025

¶75

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS .....Petitioners

¶76

Through: Mr. Sushil Kumar Pandey, Sr. PC with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶77

versus

¶78

EX NC E RATAN LAL DAS .....Respondent Through: Mr. Pushpendra Kumar Dhaka, Mr. Abhishek Kumar, Mr. Sumit Sharma and Ms. Arti Kumar, Advs.

¶79

- W.P.(C) 1725/2025, CM APPL. 8340/2025

¶80

UNION OF INDIA ORS .....Petitioners

¶81

Through: Ms. Archana Sharma, Sr. PC with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶82

versus

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EX MWO SHYAM SINGH .....Respondent Through: Ms. Deepika Sheoran and Mr. Baljeet Singh, Advs.

¶86

- W.P.(C) 1885/2025, CM APPL. 8958/2025

¶87

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶88

Through: Mr. Vineet Dhanda, CGSC for UOI with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶89

versus

¶90

EX WO DUBEY AWDHASH NARAYAN SERVICE NO 662681 .....Respondent Through: Ms. Deepika Sheoran and Mr. Baljeet Singh, Advs.

¶91

W.P.(C) 1907/2025, CM APPL. 9008/2025

¶92

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶93

Through: Mr. P.S. Singh, CGSC with Ms. Minakshi Singh, Ms. Annu Singh and Mr. Ashutosh Bharti, Advs.

¶94

versus

¶95

HFO RAMANAND SAINI .....Respondent Through: Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta and Ms. Esha Mehrotra, Advs.

¶96

W.P.(C) 1986/2025, CM APPL. 9298/2025

¶97

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶98

Through: Mr. Jivesh Kumar Tiwari, Sr. PC with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶99

versus

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EX SGT ANIL KUMAR

.....Respondent

Through:

- W.P.(C) 2011/2025, CM APPL. 9472/2025

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UNION OF INDIA AND ORS .....Petitioners

¶107

Through: Mr. Ravi Kant Srivastava, Sr. PC with Mr. Robert Laishram and Mr. Bhupender, Advs. with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶108

versus

¶109

JWO MADAN LAL KAUSHIK .....Respondent Through: Mr. Devendra Kumar, Mr. Raj Kumar and Mr. Brajesh Kumar, Advs.

¶110

W.P.(C) 2093/2025, CM APPL. 9805/2025

¶111

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶112

Through: Mr. Raj Kumar, CGSC with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶113

versus

¶114

EX SGT SOMNATH PAL (S.NO. 776890-L) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Kritendra Tiwari, Adv.

¶115

- W.P.(C) 2524/2025, CM APPL. 11925/2025

¶116

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶117

Through: Ms. Suruchi Mittal, Sr. PC with Major Anish Muralidhar Army

¶118

versus

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EX SUB SHAMSHER SINGH .....Respondent Through: Mr. Devendra Kumar, Mr. Raj Kumar and Mr. Brajesh Kumar, Advs.

¶122

W.P.(C) 2732/2025, CM APPL. 13019/2025

¶123

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Petitioners

¶124

Through: Mr. Jitesh Vikram Srivastava, Sr. PC with Sgt Manish Kumar Singh and Sgt Mritunjay Air Force (Legal Cell)

¶125

versus

¶126

EX-SGT, AKHILESH KUMAR MISHRA (CLK/PA) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Praveen Kumar, Adv.

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CORAM:

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HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE OM PRAKASH SHUKLA

¶129

JUDGMENT (ORAL) % 05.08.2025

¶130

C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

¶131

1. These writ petitions deal with the entitlement of the respondents to disability pension. The Union of India assails decisions of the Armed Forces Tribunal, whereby disability pension stands granted to the respondents.

¶132

2. These cases stand covered by as on date more than eighty judgments passed by this Bench as well as by a Coordinate Bench of this Court. They also stand covered by the judgment of the Supreme

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¶135

Court in Dharamvir Singh v UOI¹ as well as the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Vijender Singh v UO I² .

¶136

3. Against one of these decisions, which was rendered by us in UOI v Ex Sub Gawas Anil Madso³ , an SLP has been preferred before the Supreme Court in which notice alone has been issued and no interim orders have been passed.

¶137

4. We are not informed that any SLP has been preferred against any of the other matters passed by this Bench or the Coordinate Bench.

¶138

5. Learned Counsel for the Union of India in all these matters fairly acknowledged that the controversy stands covered by the above decisions.

¶139

6. In its recent decision in Union Territory of Ladakh v Jammu & Kashmir National Conference⁴ , the Supreme Court has deprecated the practice of hierarchically lower Courts including the High Courts keeping matters pending merely because some issue is pending before the Supreme Court. Even where the correctness of a judgment has been doubted by the Supreme Court, the decision in Jammu & Kashmir National Conference directs High Courts to implement the law as it stands and not to adjourn matters awaiting the outcome of the appeals in the Supreme Court.

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1 (2013) 7 SCC 316

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2 2025 SCC OnLIne SC 895

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3 2025 SCC OnLine 2018

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4 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1140

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7. We have taken stock of this judgment in para 60 of the judgment in Gawas Anil Madso .

¶147

8. We, therefore, proceed to decide these writ petitions on the basis of the decisions taken by this Court.

¶148

9. A tabular statement of the position as it emerges in all these writ petitions, including the decisions by which the individual writ petitions, may be provided thus:

¶149

S No	WP(C) No.	Name of Respondent	Disability	Years of service	Reasoning given by the RMB
1.	W.P.(C) 13731/2024	Ex SGT Babu Lal Yadav	Central Retinal Vein Occlusion (Left Eye)	33	Onset of disability on Oct 2012 at peace station Sirsa. It is associated with hypertension & hyper-viscosity syndrome in leukaemia and polycythaemia vera. The vision of right eye have improved. No stress and strain of service. Hence, NANA as per para 24( d) (ii) GMO 2008.
2.	W.P.(C) 804/2025	Ex MWO HFO Kailash Chand 649518	i. Diabetes Type-II ii.Primary Hypertension	37	Onset in peace and served in peace as per Paras 26 and 43 of GMO 2008. Hence, NANA

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3.	W.P.(C) 821/2025	HFO Retd. Hradyesh Kumar Varshney	i. Diabetes Type-II ii.Primary Hypertension iii. Coronary Artery Disease	37	Life Style Disease, Onset of disability white in peace. No delay in diagnosis/ treatment of indl. No close time connection with HAA/Cl Ops/Fd area as per Para 26 and 43 of Ch VI of GMO 2008 and charter of duties dt. 22 January 2015.
4.	W.P.(C) 824/2025	Ex WO Sadananda Rautaray 633050 R	Diabetes Type-II	36	Life Style Disease, onset on May 2010 while in peace area. No delay in diagnosis/treatment of individual. No close time connection-HAA/ CIOps /Fd Area as per Para 26 of Ch VI of GMO 2008.
5.	W.P.(C) 990/2025	Ex SGT Mukesh Kumar Pandey	Primary Hypertension	20	Onset of disease in peace area at New Delhi. No·history of infection, service-related trauma/close time association with stress of Fd/HAA/ ClOps service. Hence NANA as per para 43 of GMO 2008.
6.	W.P.(C) 1019/2025	Ex MWO Vijender Singh Teotia	Central Serous Chorioretinop -athy Right Eye	38	Disease-progressed without any link to service conditions/ stress and no evidence of delay or adverse factors, is deemedNANA as per para 24(d)(i)

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					of GMO 2008.
7.	W.P.(C) 1031/2025	HFL Narayanasa my Nammalwar (Retd.)	Primary Hypertension	37	An idiopathic and lifestyle disease onset in peace station and served thereafter in peace station.
8.	W.P.(C) 1277/2025	SGT Pinaki Choudhary (Retd.)	Primary Hypertension	23	Life style disease. Onset on February 2016 in peace area. No close time connection with- HAA/ ClOps/Fd area as per Para 43 of Ch VI of GMO 2008.
9.	W.P.(C) 1279/2025	EX MWO HFL Amrit Lal Sekhri	ECG Abnormality (LBBB)	39	Neither attributable to nor aggravated by Mil service as per Para 20 of GMO 2008
10.	W.P.(C) 1468/2025	GP Capt. Vinay Sareen	i.Diabetes Mellitus Type II ii.Primary Hypertension iii.Dyslipidae -mia	33	Disease (i) and (ii) is life style disorder. Onset while in peace area. No delay in diagnosis/treatment of individual. No close time connection with- HAA/ClOps/Fd area as per Para 26 and 43 of Ch VI of GMO 2008.
11.	W.P.(C) 1472/2025	EX WO Surendra Kumar Singh	Primary Hypertension	37	Life style disorder. Onset of disability in peace-area (Allahabad). No close time connection with- HAA/ClOps/Fd area. No delay in

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					diagnosis and there was no stress/strain of service Hence, NANA as per Para 43 of Ch VI of GMO 2008.
12.	W.P.(C) 1707/2025	EX MWO Bijay Kumar Sah	CAD AWMI	37	No service related trauma/stress or delay in diagnosis or treatment. The condition is held neither attributable to nor aggravated by service as per Para 47 of Chapter VI of GMO 2008 and Charter of Duties dated 16 January 2014.
13.	W.P.(C) 1724/2025	EX NC E Ratan Lal Das	i.Diabetes Mellitus Type II ii.Primary Hypertension	29	Disease (i) and (ii) is life style disorder. Onset while in peace area. No delay in diagnosis/treatment of individual. No close time connection with- HAA/ClOps/Fd area as per Para 26 and 43 of Ch VI of GMO 2008.
14.	W.P.(C) 1725/2025	EX MWO Shyam Singh	Primary Hypertension	37	Life style disease. Onset of disability in peace area. No close time connection with- HAA/ClOps/Fd area as per Para 43 of Ch VI of GMO 2008.
15.	W.P.(C) 1885/2025	EX WO Dubey Awdhash	i.Diabetes Mellitus TypeII	37	Life Style Disease, onset on February 2016 of inpeace

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		Narayan	ii.Primary Hypertension		area. No close time connection with- HAA/ClOps/Fd area as per Paras 26 and 43 of Ch VI ofGMO2008.
16.	W.P.(C) 1907/2025	HFO Ramanand Saini	i.Pulmonary Thrombo Embolism with Pulmonary Hypertension ii.Primary Hypertension	37	Onset on Oct 2009 while posted to Peace area. An idiopathic disorder and no delay in diagnosis. There is no close time association with stress or strain of service. Hence NANA.
17.	W.P.(C) 1986/2025	EX SGT Anil Kumar	CAD ASMI	20	Onset on 13 November 2003 in peace area. No service related trauma/stress or delay in diagnosis or treatment. The condition is held neither attributable to nor aggravated by service.
18.	W.P.(C) 2011/2025	JWO Madan Lal Kaushik	Primary Hypertension	37	Aggravation is conceded when the onset occurs while serving in Fd/CI Ops/HAA. Hence, NANA as per Para 43 of GMO 2008.
19.	W.P.(C) 2093/2025	EX SGT Somnath Pal	Primary Hypertension	20	Onset in peace area and remains in peace area, hence NANA vide Para 43 ofGMO2008.
20.	W.P.(C) 2524/2025	EX Sub Shamsheer Singh	Primary Hypertension	30	Neither attributable to nor aggravated byMilserviceas

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					per Para 43 of GMO2008
21.	W.P.(C) 2732/2025	EX SGT Akhilesh Kumar Mishra	Primary Hypertension	19	Life style disease. Onset of disability in peace area. No close time connection with- HAA/ClOps/Fd area as per Para 43 of Ch VI of GMO 2008.

¶165

10. These appeals stand covered, in identical circumstances, by several decisions rendered by this Court, in which disability pension was denied on identical grounds. Some of the representative decisions may be cited thus:

¶166

5 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3956

¶167

6 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3957

¶168

7 2025 SCC OnLine Del 4806

¶169

8 2025 SCC OnLine Del 4292 9 2025 SCC OnLine Del 4222 10 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3004 11 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3969

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¶172

(b) UOI v Ashok Kumar Pandey¹²

¶173

(d) UOI v Rajesh Kumar¹⁴ (e) UOI v GP Capt. Santosh Kumar¹⁵

¶174

(iii) Coronary Artery Disease

¶175

(iv) Primary Hypertension with Retinopathy

¶176

UOI v EX WO Hira Lal Prasad²¹

¶177

12 2025 SCC OnLine Del 2908

¶178

13 2025 SCC OnLine Del 2910

¶179

14 WP C 9470/2025 dt. 10 July 2025

¶180

15 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3218

¶181

16 2025 SCC OnLine Del 4961 17 2025 SCC OnLine Del 2549 18 2025 SCC OnLine Del 2434

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19 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3583

¶183

20 2025 SCC OnLine Del 4909 21 2025 SCC OnLine Del 2689 22 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3958 23 2025 SCC OnLine Del 3223

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¶186

(c) UOI v CDR Sudesh Kumar Sharma²⁴

¶187

(d) UOI v GP Capt Girish Kumar Johri (Retd)²⁵

¶188

11. The reasons for our disinclination to interfere with the decision of the Tribunal are forthcoming in the individual judgements passed by us, and we do not deem it necessary to burden this order by a reiteration thereof. Suffice it to state that learned Counsel for the UOI, in these petitions, too, was unable to urge that these cases are not covered by our earlier decisions. In fact, as already noted, they fairly conceded that the issues stood covered.

¶189

12. Following the aforesaid, all these writ petitions are dismissed. The petitioners are directed to implement the orders passed by the Tribunal within a period of eight weeks from today.

¶190

C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

¶191

OM PRAKASH SHUKLA, J.

¶192

AUGUST 5, 2025 /aky

¶193