The Delhi High Court has raised concerns about the lack of provision in the Indian Air Force to provide medical assistance to those injured during training who are subsequently not commissioned into the IAF.
The court was hearing a petition by Nidhi Verma, who had sustained injuries during her training, seeking to quash the decision of the IAF by which her training and cadetship in the Air Force Academy were terminated.
“The present case depicts a sad state of affairs, where the training of a young woman from a rural background in Haryana was not only terminated but she has been also left to take care of all present and future medical needs by offering to pay a meagre monthly ex gratia payment,” Justice Rekha Palli and Justice Shalinder Kaur said.
The Centre’s counsel submitted that there is no provision to render any medical assistance to the trainees like the petitioner who are injured during training and are therefore not commissioned in the IAF.
The counsel said such provisions for medical assistance were available only for ex-service personnel and pensioners. The counsel said Ms. Verma who had undergone training for only one year not being an ex-service personnel would not be entitled to any medical assistance even in the future.
“We find this explanation to be most unsatisfactory as we are unable to comprehend as to how the Indian Air Force can shirk of its responsibility to render medical assistance to young persons like the petitioner, who suffer injuries during training and that too, in a case like the present one where it has been specifically recorded that injuries suffered by the petitioner were attributable to service,” the Bench observed.
Ms. Verma’s training was terminated in March 2012. She has, in the alternative, sought that if she cannot at this stage be commissioned in the Flying Branch, the Centre be directed to induct her in the Technical Branch or any other Ground Duty Branch of the Indian Air Force, for which she is fully eligible.
Belated stage
The Centre vehemently opposed the petition contending that even if she is now fit and not suffering from any disability or ailment, she cannot be inducted in the IAF at this belated stage when she has already attained the age of 36.
In response to her plea that she may be inducted in the Ground Duties of the Indian Air Force, the Centre reiterated that such induction was not possible at this stage as she had not opted for Ground Duty while filling the form for being commissioned in the IAF.
Ms. Verma, who was present in court, then, submitted that even if she were to accept her fate that she could not be now commissioned in the IAF, the Centre should at least make some provisions for her further medical treatment on account of the spinal injury suffered by her during the training at the IAF.
The court will hear the case again on August 20.
