Army chief Deepak Kapoor refuses disability pension

Army chief Deepak Kapoor has refused to accept a 20% hike in his pension provided on the basis of his disability suffered during service.

61-year-old Kapoor was last November found to have suffered impairment in his left ear after exposure to booming sound of artillery guns during a  demonstration on anti-terror operations in the US in July last year.

After the disability was reported in the media, the army chief is said to have written to defence minister AK Antony, saying he was not inclined towards receiving the disability pension after his retirement on March 31 this year.

The disability, which put him in a low-medical category, would have fetched him 20% more pension.

Kapoor had realised that he was unable to hear properly, and had gone through medical examination at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in November last year when his disability was noticed.

He had told doctors then that the hearing problem could be because of exposure to booming sounds of small weapons and gunfire during a demonstration by US troops during anti-terror operations. Kapoor himself had fired from a few weapons during the demonstration.

Doctors then advised him to use a hearing aid in his left ear. They had also diagnosed that he was "fit for release from service" in the medical categorisation 'H-2', which denotes a low medical category where he cannot continue in service.

Kapoor retires on March 31 when Lt General VK Singh, the eastern army commander and senior-most infantry officer, will take over.