COAS office discussed steps to reduce no. of people getting disability pension

New Delhi: Before the unexpected change of rules to impose income tax on disabled soldiers last month, Chief of Army Staff Bipin Rawat received internal presentation on measures to reduce the number of people getting disability pension.

Rawat’s key result areas (KRA) cell was aware of the proposals and several presentations on the matter were made to him, including the suggestion to do away with income-tax exemption for disabled soldiers, people aware of the development said.

“Many discussions at different levels have occurred and are occurring for management of disabled persons,” the Army HQ said in response to a detailed questionnaire by ET.


The Army denied that the KRA cell had an active file on cutting down on the number of people receiving disability pension.

According to sources, the measure were part of a series of reforms which Rawat had initiated, including capping education allowances for children of war widows and the war wounded.

The cap on these allowances was, however, withdrawn in March 2018 after the intervention of then defence minister. The recent CBDT circular has created an uproar within the veterans’ community, especially after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made public a letter by Army HQ that sought to blame some personnel for misusing the system for the change in rules.

Rawat was given at least two presentations by the office of Director General of Medical Services (Army) in July 2018 and January 2019, where several measures on the subject were discussed, including abrogation of income-tax exemption for disabled soldiers, they said.

Besides the order on income tax, the Army also made an internal policy that made it difficult for soldiers with disabilities to be granted honorary commissioned ranks. As per the policy that was issued in July last year, negative marking was introduced for disabilities like diabetes and hypertension that were attributable to service life. This policy has resulted in penalising junior commissioned officers with a long length of service for medical conditions inducted due to stress and strain of service.