India, Sept. 17 -- Slamming the Defence Ministry, the Supreme Court dismissed a batch of around 271 appeals and special leave petitions filed by the Union Government in cases concerning the grant of the disability element of service pension to several retired army officers. A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe passed the ruling on Tuesday (93-page order uploaded on Wednesday) on challenges by the Government to orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) and High Courts granting relief to several retired army personnel who sought disability pension.

"The sad part of this litigation is that, out of around 271 civil appeals and special leave petitions, most of them are barred by limitation. Many similar appeals that were barred by...