New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it wants defence forces to have “braveheart cadets” who should not be deterred by injuries or disabilities suffered during training and directed the Centre to explore the possibility of providing them with insurance covers for such exigencies.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan, sought response of the Centre and defence forces in a suo motu case on difficulties faced by cadets, who were medically discharged from military institutes on account of disabilities suffered during training programmes.
“We want these braveheart cadets to be in the forces. We don’t want injuries or disability to be any kind of deterrent to these cadets, who undergo training after clearing various competitive examinations,” the bench observed.
The Centre, the top court said, should explore the possibility of granting an insurance cover like group insurance to the cadets undergoing rigorous training in different military institutes to deal with any exigency of death or disabilities.
“If you grant them insurance cover, there will be no financial burden on the government but on the insurer. Every trainee cadet should be insured because the risk is very high. Brave people should come into the forces, if they are left high and dry, they will be disheartened,” the bench said.
It also asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, to seek instruction on enhancing the current lumpsum amount, which stands at Rs 40,000 for cadets disabled during the training programme, to meet their medical needs. The top court was informed that a file relating to granting them Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) cover has been cleared by the ministry but not implemented.
The top court also asked the Centre to explore a scheme for rehabilitation of the disabled candidates into desk jobs or any other work related to defence services, after their treatment was over.
“Don’t treat this case as adversarial. There can be some scheme under which they can be trained after treatment of their disability or injuries. These injuries or disabilities are accidental. You can bring them back into the forces by reassessing them and training them for some other work in the defence forces,” the bench told Bhati. Justice Nagarathna said even if they did not receive the same benefits as provided to the ex-servicepersons, they could still get some benefits under the scheme.
The matter was posted for September 4.