Quick Summary: A 75-year-old former soldier, P Venkateshwar Rao, asked for pension benefits going back to 1981. The court dismissed his request because he waited too long to file it.
P Venkateshwar Rao, who served as a soldier, went to the Tribunal to ask for pension benefits from 1981 to 2016. He also wanted a set amount of money for medical expenses starting from 1998 until he joined the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS).
The Armed Forces Tribunal at its Hyderabad Circuit Bench turned down P Venkateshwar Rao's request for back payments. The Tribunal agreed with a previous decision by the Medical Board, which only allowed disability benefits for the future, not for the past.
"The appellate authority has favorably considered the request for grant of disability, but made it prospective."
P Venkateshwar Rao filed his appeal 36 years after being let go from service. The court didn't find a good reason for this delay. A letter from the Ministry of Defence in 2014 said that appeals filed after such a long delay without specific reasons shouldn't get full back payments.
The case was heard by Chief Justice Apresh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin. They found no mistake in the Tribunal's decision and dismissed P Venkateshwar Rao's request. The court noted:
"There is no explanation worth its name for having preferred an appeal after thirty-six years."
The court decided that P Venkateshwar Rao's petition was dismissed due to the long delay in filing, and no costs were awarded. All other pending applications were closed.
