India, Oct. 28 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Union government to grant a 'war injury pension' to an Indian Army veteran who had developed "rheumatoid arthritis" during his posting at Kargil, ruling that the government cannot interpret its own policy in a way that "contradicts its plain wording" or leads to "arbitrary, irrational or discriminatory outcomes."

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe dismissed an appeal filed by the Union government challenging previous orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) and the High Court that had directed it to pay the veteran, Narendra Kumar, a war injury pension instead of disability pension.

The bench said the government must go by what its policy actually says and not ...