When Belliappa Motaiah, 65-year-old veteran of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, recently made an application with all necessary documents to the army regiment he served for inclusion of his wife C.M. Jancy’s name in the records, he was shocked to learn that his service documents had been destroyed.
Acknowledging that he had served in the Indian Army from April 20, 1968, to October 21, 1981, and was discharged at his request without pension, the army said, “Being a non-pensioner your service documents have already been destroyed on completion of its preservation period of 25 years. Hence, it is not possible to publish marriage at this belated stage.” The letter was signed by the Captain of the Record Office in the Madras Engineer Group (MEG).
“It is also intimated that your family is not eligible for any benefit from the army side being non-ESM (ex-servicemen) status,” the letter added. The army’s practice of destroying service documents after 25 years has come under strong criticism from veterans of the armed forces and voluntary organisations working for the welfare of ex-servicemen.
While Col. Manmeet Singh (retd), SM (Gallantry) of Foot Infantry and Military Intelligence, New Delhi, described the practice of destroying service documents as a “retrograde policy”, VeKare Ex-Servicemen Trust (VKET), an NGO engaged in assisting ex-servicemen and their dependants, has taken up the issue with the Commandant of the MEG and Centre, Bengaluru.
Questioning the army’s decision to destroy documents, Col. Singh, in an email, wondered why a digital format was not retained as a backup. “Sepoy Motaiah retired in 1981. Add 25 years and that is 2006, an era when digital format was very much in vogue in Government of India,” he said.
Sepoy Motaiah had joined the army as ‘boys company’ in MEG & Centre. He married Jancy in May 1986, about five years after he was discharged on his own request after a total service of 13 years and six months. “Had he worked for a few more months, he would have become eligible for pension,” said M.N. Subramani, president of VKET.
Taking exception to the letter describing the war veteran as a “non ex-serviceman,” Mr. Subramani said the sepoy had an army discharge book with all the service details. The discharge book is an official document, which, when produced in any court of law, will be considered as primary evidence for having served in the Indian Army, he said.
Besides, he argued that the MEG’s Record Officer has no locus standi to pass any judgement that a non-pensioner ex-servicemen’s family is not entitled to any benefits. “Who can predict that the Union government will never formulate any policy in future sanctioning pro-rata pension to all ex-servicemen, who fought one of the 1965 or 1971 wars…and served for a period of not less than 10 years, and family pension for widows of such ex-servicemen? What if the government extends the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme benefit to all ex-servicemen and their dependants?” Mr. Subramani said.
