Plight of cadets suffering disability: Supreme Court asks Centre to file comprehensive reply; contemplates bringing them under ECH scheme

The Supreme Court of India has asked the Union Government to file a comprehensive reply in its suo motu case registered on the basis of a media report that Armed Forces cadets, who suffer accidents while training, are left “high and dry.”

A Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan asks the government to find out if there is any scheme to provide them insurance cover, ex gratia lumpsum amount and rehabilitation. The court contemplated even bringing them under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS).

The case 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).

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According to the report, around 500 officer cadets who have been medically discharged from these military institutes since 1985, owing to varying degrees of disability incurred during training, are now staring at mounting medical bills with an ex-gratia monthly payment of ₹40,000 per month 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 report also 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 ECHS for free treatment at military facilities and empanelled hospitals, since their disabilities took place during training before they were commissioned as officers.