Court summons Chief of Army Staff over non-payment of jawan’s disability pension

The Principal Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on Monday sought the personal appearance of the Defence Secretary and Chief of Army Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi, in a case of contempt where the disability pension of a jawan had not been paid in spite of repeated orders by the Tribunal.
The AFT’s bench has directed that the defence secretary and the Army chief appear before it on October 21 to explain the non-implementation of the Tribunal’s orders.
The directions came in the wake of a recent judgement by a larger bench of the Tribunal, which had ruled that the AFT possesses the powers of contempt to get its orders implemented in case there is wilful non-compliance by the respondents.
The Ministry of Defence had previously filed an appeal against the AFT’s authority in the Delhi High Court. However, the high court upheld the Tribunal’s power to enforce compliance and instructed the Defence Secretary to submit an affidavit confirming whether ministry approval was obtained before challenging the AFT’s order.
While the High Court has scheduled a hearing for October, it made it clear that it is not issuing a notice or staying the AFT’s proceedings, allowing the contempt case to continue.