Hearing in the Supreme Court today on the issue of military cadets who became disabled, the court had taken suo motu cognizance on the basis of media reports:

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the difficulties faced by officer cadets who become disabled during training in military institutions. Disabled cadets are released from military institutions on medical grounds.

They get a maximum ex-gratia payment of Rs 40,000 depending on the extent of disability, which does not cover the cost of treatment. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan will hear the case on Monday.

The court had taken suo motu cognizance

The court had taken cognizance on August 12 based on media reports raising the issue of these cadets, who were once part of training at the country's top military institutes like the National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Indian Military Academy (IMA).

According to media reports, since 1985, there have been 500 such officer cadets who were released from military institutions on medical grounds. The report said that between the year 2021 and July 2025, there were 20 such cadets who were released on medical grounds. The plight of these cadets has been described in the media report.

As per rules, they are not entitled to ex-servicemen (ESM) status, which would have made them eligible for free treatment at military facilities and empanelled hospitals under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS). This is because they had become disabled during training before getting commissioned as officers.