No soldier with a disability will be inconvenienced, says Rajnath Singh

india

Updated: Jul 08, 2019 21:25 IST

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said the government is rethinking its notification about taking away tax benefits from veterans, who get disability pension but have served their full terms with the defence forces.

“No soldier with a disability will be inconvenienced,’’ he said in Rajya Sabha. “A clarification has been sought from the Central Board of Direct Taxes [CBDT] and the issue is being re-examined by the [defence] ministry.”

Singh was responding to a question raised in Parliament’s Upper House after the CBDT last month announced that disability pension will be taxed in case of soldiers who have served full terms with the navy, army and air force.

In its notification, the CBDT said that only those who were “invalidated” because of disabilities during their service will continue to get tax benefits. The British had introduced a tax-free disability pension in 1922.

The order to stop alleged misuse of disability pension has annoyed veterans as well as serving soldiers. There are nearly 25 lakh veterans. In the current fiscal, the government has allocated Rs 1,12,080 crore for defence pensions alone.

The Indian Army, which is the largest of the three forces, had justified (WHEN) the decision to tax disability pension by pointing to “instances of misuse” in its grant.

In response to a separate question on possible intelligence failure that led to the February 14 attack on paramilitary forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, Singh told the House that the National Investigative Agency’s probe into the strike is “still on”.

The Union Home Ministry will inform the House once the investigation is over into the attack in which 40 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed.

The minister also defended the government’s decision to disinvest stakes in Bharat Earth Movers Limited, a Defence Public Sector Unit. He said the strategic investment will bring more “professional competency”.