New Delhi: Amid noisy protests by Congress members in the Lok Sabha Thursday, seeking the Centre’s response on taxing the disability pension for military personnel, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said that he would update the house on the matter after getting complete details on it.
“The issue being raised has been brought to our notice. After getting complete details on the matter, I will, with your permission and if you will allow, update the house,” Mr Singh said in his intervention.
The Asian Age had exclusively reported on June 25 that the finance ministry said that the disability pension of those defence personnel who retired from service on superannuation would be taxed.
A circular issued by the finance ministry stated that the disability pension of only those defence personnel would be tax-free who had to leave service due to disability suffered while performing their duties. As soon as the Zero Hour began, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Choudhury and other party MPs sought permission from the speaker Om Birla to raise the issue but they weren’t allowed to do so.
Mr Choudhury said that the NDA government had come to power by making the honour of defence personnel their political slogan and now it planned to impose taxes on disability pension that was given to them.
“This is like dishonouring the armed forces’ personnel and is an injustice to them,” the Congress leader said.
As soon as Mr Choudhury raised the issue, Congress members rushed into the well and raised slogans like ‘Sena ko nyay do’ (give justice to the Army) and ‘Sena ke naam pe vote mangana band karo’ (stop asking votes in the name of the Army).
After repeated sloganeering and protests which lasted for about 45 minutes, the minister of state for parliamentary affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the defence minister would like to intervene.
Armed forces personnel who suffer any kind of disability due to their service receive separate disability pension. The amount depends on their rank and the kind of disability.
