The Supreme Court
on Monday sought responses from the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Army
on a contempt petition filed by a retired air veteran who was awarded over Rs
1.5 crore in compensation by the top court last year for contracting AIDS after
a blood transfusion at a military hospital during the 2002 Operation Parakram.
A bench of
justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta issued a notice to the defence forces,
turning down the Air Force's request to defer a hearing on the contempt plea as
a review appeal against the September 30 ruling was pending before the Supreme
Court.
Additional
solicitor general Vikramajeet Banerjee requested the court to hear the contempt
petition after a decision on the review petition. "You get it listed and
heard expeditiously in four weeks, or else we will proceed with this
matter," the court said, adjourning the matter by four weeks.
Advocate Vanshaja
Shukla appeared as amicus curiae and stated that the petitioner has not
received any funds for medical or litigation expenses. The court noted that
Shukla, who assisted the court in passing an order granting compensation, had
not received the Rs 50,000 fee.
The officer,
retired corporal Ashish Kumar Chauhan, joined the air force in May 1996. The
unfortunate blood transfusion episode took place in July 2002 during Operation
Parakram, when India deployed troops to the India-Pakistan border following an
attack on Parliament. Due to a sudden illness, Chauhan was hospitalised at a
military hospital in Jammu. One unit of blood was administered to him without
consent.
In March 2014, he
was admitted for pneumonia treatment. Interestingly, the military hospital in
Ahmedabad found HIV to be negative. As the problem persisted, he was sent to
the Indian Naval Hospital in Mumbai in May 2014, where tests confirmed that he
was HIV positive. The medical board found he contracted an infection during the
blood transfusion received in July 2002.
The apex court's
decision in September addressed the petitioner's mental, bodily, emotional, and
financial losses after he was pulled from service owing to his medical
condition. He suffered personal stigma as well, leading up to his divorce.
"People sign
up to join the armed forces with considerable enthusiasm and a sense of
patriotic duty...to put their lives on the line and be prepared for the
ultimate sacrifice of their lives," the court said while awarding him
compensation of Rs 1.54 crore due to medical negligence of the army and air
force.
A corresponding
duty is cast on all state functionaries, including echelons of power within the
armed forces, to ensure that the highest standard of safety, which is physical
and mental well-being, is maintained, it said.
The Air Force was
ordered to pay the amount within six weeks and release all arrears of disability
pension to the petitioner. The court found both the Army and the Air Force
"vicariously liable" and left it open to the Air Force to seek
reimbursement of up to half the compensation amount from the Indian Army.
In 2016, Chauhan
was discharged from service and a year later, he filed a complaint before the
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, claiming Rs 95 crore from the
air force. The commission dismissed his petition in August 2021 as the military
hospital at Jammu where he was given blood was not an authorised blood
bank.
Even after
getting discharged from the Air Force, when the petitioner sought to take up
employment with a government organisation, he was rejected owing to his medical
condition.