SC takes suo motu note of plight of cadets suffering disability during military training
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of difficulties faced by cadets, who were medically discharged from military institutes on account of disabilities suffered during training programmes.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan will be hearing the case on Monday which was registered on August 12 after a media report flagged the issue of these cadets, who were once part of training at the nation’s top military institutes such as the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Military Academy (IMA).
According to the media report, there are around 500 officer cadets who have been medically discharged from these military institutes since 1985, due to varying degrees of disability incurred during training, and are now staring at mounting medical bills with an ex-gratia monthly payment that's far short of what they need.
It said at the NDA alone, there are around 20 such cadets, who were medically discharged in just five years, between 2021 and July 2025.
The media report further highlighted the plight of these cadets because as per rules, they are not entitled to the status of ex-servicemen (ESM), which would have made them eligible under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) for free treatment at military facilities and empanelled hospitals, since their disabilities took place during training before they were commissioned as officers.
It had said that unlike soldiers in this category, who are entitled to ESM status, all that these officer cadets get now is an ex-gratia payment of up to Rs 40,000 per month depending on extent of disability — an amount that falls far short of basic needs.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
