New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Monday, issued notices to the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Social Justice, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the chiefs of the Army, Air Force, and Navy on the issue of medical benefits provided to officer cadets discharged from the country’s top military training institutes on medical grounds.
The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance of a report published by The Indian Express. The newspaper had reported how 500 officer cadets were medically discharged from military institutes such as the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Military Academy (IMA) since 1985, due to varying degrees of disability incurred during training.
At the NDA alone, around 20 such cadets were medically discharged in just the past five years, between 2021 and July 2025.
According to rules, these cadets are not eligible under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) for free treatment at military facilities and empanelled hospitals, since their disabilities took place during training before they were commissioned as officers.
And, unlike soldiers in this category who are entitled to ESM status, all that these officer cadets get now is an ex gratia payment of up to Rs 40,000 per month depending on extent of disability – an amount that falls far short of basic needs, they say, with medical expenses alone costing, on an average, nearly Rs 50,000 per month or more.
After taking up the matter, the Court observed that such treatment of brave and brilliant men (and now women as well) would dissuade others from joining the armed forces. The Court also wanted to know from the Government whether such people can be employed by the Ministry of Defence in other capacities.
The newspaper had reported that while defence minister Rajnath Singh had okayed a proposal to increase the ex gratia awarded in such cases, the file remains stuck.
