Supreme Court Pulls Up Centre For Not Reconsidering Disability Pension, ESM Status For Outboarded Officer Cadets

The bench of Justices BV Nagarathna, R Mahadevan and DK Upadhyaya was hearing suo motu proceedings concerning the plight of such cadets.

The Court expressed dissatisfaction with the affidavit filed by the Centre, observing that there had been no genuine reconsideration of the recommendations of the 2015 Sabharwal Committee despite its clear direction dated August 4, 2026. It said that the recommendations included granting Ex-Serviceman status and disability pension to officer cadets who are boarded out of training due to injuries or disabilities. The Union Government had rejected these recommendations in 2022. “What is this scant attitude you are showing to the court? You say we disposed it of in 2022 and there ends the matter. What is the attitude on the part of the department?” Justice Nagarathna observed.

The Bench noted that the Centre's affidavit merely referred to meetings held in 2022 and reproduced earlier decisions rejecting disability pension and Ex-Serviceman status for outboarded officer cadets. “There is no whisper” in the affidavit that the Sabharwal Committee recommendations had been reconsidered in light of the Supreme Court's August 4 directions, the Bench observed.

Justice Mahadevan specifically pointed out that the recommendation concerning disability pension had not been revisited. “Pursuant to our 4th August direction, there is no reconsideration,” he said.

The Court also examined the disparity between benefits available to ordinary recruits who are boarded out and those available to officer cadets.

The Bench noted that ordinary recruits boarded out of service receive disability pension and other benefits, whereas officer cadets, whose numbers are relatively small, do not receive similar benefits.

Senior Advocate Rekha Palli, appearing as amicus curiae, highlighted the disparity and submitted that the officer cadets were seeking parity with recruits.

According to the submissions before the Court, around 400 officer cadets had been boarded out over several years, translating to approximately 40 cadets annually.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, maintained the government's position that granting Ex-Serviceman status or disability pension at officer rates was not feasible under the existing policy.

The Centre also informed the Court that the issue of pension would be examined by the Eighth Central Pay Commission.

On rehabilitation and skill development, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Venkatraman submitted that the government had proposed 8 to 10-week job-oriented courses through the Directorate General of Resettlement. The proposed courses would cover areas including cybersecurity, logistics, data analytics and technical trades. However, the ASG clarified that completion of the courses would not guarantee employment.

Justice Nagarathna questioned whether the Centre could at least bear the educational expenses of diploma-level courses to improve the cadets' future employment prospects.“At least educational expenses must be provided...We are not saying you provide them a graduate course, at least educational expenses for a diploma course can be provided if they want to have any future employment,” she said.

In its order, the Bench recorded that its August 4 direction requiring reconsideration of the Sabharwal Committee recommendations in a favourable light had not been complied with. The Court directed the Centre to convene a proper meeting, reconsider the recommendations and place the minutes of the meeting on record. It also cautioned that failure to comply could result in adverse orders, including the possibility of a mandamus. The Bench, however, gave the government one more opportunity before taking that course.

Justice Nagarathna reiterated that the Court did not wish to issue a mandamus at this stage and urged the ASG to impress upon the concerned department the need for a more responsive approach.

The amicus was directed to identify the specific benefits presently available to recruit soldiers who are boarded out so that the Court could examine whether comparable benefits could be extended to officer cadets.

In its August 4, 2026 order, the Supreme Court had directed the concerned departments to reconsider the Sabharwal Committee's recommendations in light of the pendency of the issue before the Court, “in order to ameliorate the conditions of the outboarded cadets.” The Court had expressed an expectation that “certain favourable recommendations would be emanating from the respondent-Departments in this regard.”

The Bench had also taken note of the extension of lifelong ECHS benefits and medical cover to invalidated cadets, describing the measure as “laudable”.

At the same time, it had noted the disparity in monthly disability or ex-gratia payments. Officer cadets were receiving ₹12,240 plus dearness allowance, compared to ₹18,000 for jawan recruits. The issue of the disparity had been left for consideration by the Eighth Pay Commission. The Court had further observed that the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 may not fully apply to cadets with less than 40% benchmark disability and directed the Centre to formulate a suitable welfare scheme for them.

It had held that outboarded cadets with benchmark disabilities were entitled to the 4% reservation under Section 34 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. The Court had also directed States and Union Territories to consider granting reservation to such cadets under the “Ex-Military Personnel (Ex-MP)” quota, independently of the DoPT definition of “ex-servicemen”. The Registry was directed to circulate the order to all Chief Secretaries.

The proceedings concern cadets discharged from institutions including the National Defence Academy, Indian Military Academy and Officers Training Academy after sustaining disabilities during training. The suo motu case addresses issues concerning their status, pensionary benefits, rehabilitation and access to employment opportunities.

Taking note of the circumstances, the Court had adjourned the matter by two weeks to allow the Defence Ministry and the Finance Ministry to consider the recommendations made by the three service chiefs and take a decision on extending monetary benefits to the affected cadets.
Previously, in October 2025, the Court had asked the Centre to come up with a scheme for out-boarded military cadets so that they can be rehabilitated. "It is expected that a scheme of facilities and amenities would be provided to these out-boarded officer cadets so that they could be rehabilitated, both medically as well as otherwise, in their future life," the Court said.