New Delhi , April 1: The Supreme Court on Thursday severely pulled up the Centre, particularly the ministry of defence, for “shabby” handling of the pension cases of soldiers even when they relate to those becoming disabled during postings to highly inhospitable areas like Siachen.

“We regret to say that Army officers and Armymen are being treated in a shabby manner by the government,” the bench said while criticising the Centre for preferring an appeal in a case against the Punjab and Haryana HC order providing “full pay” commissioned service benefit to Army officer C.S. Sidhu, who became disabled during a posting to a high-altitude area. It directed the MoD to give entire monetary benefits to Sidhu with eight per cent interest, as ordered by the HC.

S.S. Negi