Only Ex-Gratia, No Health Scheme: Medically Discharged NDA, IMA Cadets Struggle For Support, Supreme Court Takes Suo Motu Note

The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the hardships faced by hundreds of cadets forced to quit India’s premier military academies after suffering disabilities during training.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan will hear the case on Tuesday (19 August) which was registered on Modnay, after the issue was flagged in a media report, The New Indian Express reported .

The report revealed that since 1985 nearly 500 officer cadets from the National Defence Academy (NDA), Indian Military Academy (IMA) and other institutes have been discharged on medical grounds.

Many continue to grapple with lifelong injuries and spiralling treatment costs but remain outside the formal welfare net of the armed forces.

Unlike soldiers injured in service, these cadets are denied ex-servicemen (ESM) status as they were not commissioned officers at the time of injury.

This exclusion bars them from the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), which would have entitled them to free treatment in military hospitals and empanelled facilities.

Currently, their only support is an ex-gratia payment of up to Rs 40,000 per month depending on the disability — an amount that falls far short of covering medical and basic living needs, raising serious concerns of neglect.

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