In short. If you were retired because a medical authority found you unfit, there are two questions, in this order. First, should you have been retired at all? Section 20(4) of the RPwD Act, 2016 says an employee who acquires a disability must be shifted to another post with the same pay or kept on a supernumerary post until a suitable one is found. Second, if retirement was proper, is your invalid pension, and any disability benefit, correctly worked out? Department-level correction can take months; a CAT case longer. Begin by getting the medical report and the retirement order.
Is this your situation?
- A medical board declared you permanently unfit and the office retired you, without asking whether another post could be found.
- You lost your sight, a limb or your hearing in service and were told the only option was invalid pension.
- You were treated for a mental illness, were absent for long periods, and now face retirement or removal instead of support.
- You had less than 10 years of service when invalidated and were offered only gratuity.
- Your illness or injury came from your duties, but no extraordinary or disability benefit has been considered.
- You are in the NPS and do not know whether to take invalid pension under the old rules or your NPS corpus.
- You yourself want to stop working because of your condition and are unsure which route protects your pension.
The question to ask before the pension question
Most people who come to us after a medical retirement want to know whether their pension is right. That is the second question. The first is whether the retirement itself was lawful, because since 2016 a central government office cannot simply retire an employee who becomes disabled in service. It has to try to keep the person in work.
The duty comes from Section 20(4) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Put simply: a government office may not get rid of you, or demote you, because you became disabled while working for it. If your old job is now beyond you, it must move you to a different job on the same scale with the same benefits. And if it has no such job today, it must keep you on a post created over and above its strength, drawing full pay, until a fitting job turns up or you reach retirement age.
The difference in money is large. An Assistant invalidated at 50 with a basic pay of Rs 80,000 gets an invalid pension of about half that. Kept on a supernumerary post, the same person draws full pay and allowances for ten more years, earns increments, and then retires on a pension calculated on a higher last pay. So before anyone argues about the pension amount, ask whether Section 20 was considered at all.
Four possible outcomes after a serious illness or injury
| Outcome | When it applies | Pay and pension effect |
|---|---|---|
| Continue in the same post, with adjustments | You can still do the work with aids, a changed workstation or altered duties | No change in pay; normal pension at superannuation |
| Shifted to another post | You cannot do your post but can do another one | Same pay scale and service benefits; normal pension at superannuation |
| Kept on a supernumerary post | No suitable post exists at present | Full pay until a post is found or you reach superannuation; normal pension then |
| Retired on invalid pension | Section 20 does not apply to your case, and you are permanently incapacitated for further service | Invalid pension under Rules 39 and 44 of the 2021 Rules, plus gratuity, and extraordinary benefits if the cause was service-related |
How Rule 39 and Section 20 fit together
Rule 39 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, which carries forward an amendment made to the old rules in January 2019, deals with the overlap in two steps. Where an employee acquires a disability and Section 20 of the RPwD Act applies, the case is governed by Section 20, and the employee is asked to produce a disability certificate from the competent authority under the RPwD Rules, 2017. Only where Section 20 does not apply does the rule go on to allow retirement on invalid pension for a bodily or mental infirmity that permanently incapacitates the employee for further service.
So an order retiring you on invalid pension should show that someone looked at Section 20 first and found a reason why it did not apply. Reasons that hold up include a valid exemption notification covering your post, or a condition that is not a disability under the Act. Reasons that do not hold up include 'no vacancy in this office' (the supernumerary post exists precisely for that) and 'the medical board found him unfit for his post' (that is the starting point of Section 20, not the end).
This is not a new idea. The 1995 disability law had a similar clause in Section 47, and the Supreme Court enforced it in Kunal Singh (2003), where a constable who lost a leg was held entitled to stay in service, and in Bhagwan Dass (2008), where an employee who went blind was protected even though he had not himself asked for the benefit of the Act. The 2016 Act keeps that duty and adds the requirement of a disability certificate.
One practical consequence: the protection belongs to you from the day the disability arises, not from the day you ask for it. An office cannot defend an invalidation on the ground that you never mentioned the Act. If your family signed papers agreeing to invalid pension while you were in hospital, that does not end the matter either, though it makes the case more delicate and should be explained in your representation.
Exempted posts and forces
Section 20 allows the government to exempt an establishment, having regard to the type of work, by notification. Combatant posts in the central armed police forces and some other forces have been exempted, so the protection may not reach a CRPF or BSF constable invalided out on medical grounds. Check the current notification for your post before relying on Section 20.
Even where Section 20 is exempted, the medical process, the invalid pension and the extraordinary pension rules still apply, and so do the general requirements of fairness. CAPF personnel generally take these disputes to the High Court, not CAT, and members of the Army, Navy and Air Force go to the Armed Forces Tribunal, where disability pension is a large and separate body of law. Our page on the right forum for CAPF and armed forces personnel sets out who goes where.
How a medical invalidation is meant to be done
Invalidation needs a finding by the medical authority the rules name for your grade, recorded in the prescribed form, that you are permanently incapable of further service, not merely of your present post. A certificate that says 'unfit for duties of driver' is a finding about one post and points straight to Section 20. Ask for the full medical board proceedings, not just the one-line conclusion.
You are entitled to know the finding and to ask for re-examination if you disagree, and the office should give you the leave due to you before the retirement takes effect. Retirement orders that take effect on the day of the board, or that are back-dated to a date before you even knew the result, deserve scrutiny.
Where the trouble is attendance during a long illness, offices sometimes skip the medical route altogether and start disciplinary proceedings for unauthorised absence, ending in removal. Removal costs you the pension altogether. If your absences were due to a diagnosed illness, put that on record in reply to any memo, attach the treatment papers, and ask that the case be dealt with under the medical rules and Section 20. Our page on unauthorised absence charges covers the disciplinary side.
Invalid pension: the amount, and service under 10 years
Where invalidation is proper, invalid pension is worked out in the same way as superannuation pension under Rule 44: half of your last pay or of the average of the last ten months, whichever helps you more, subject to the minimum (Rs 9,000 a month) and the maximum fixed after the Seventh Pay Commission. Dearness relief is added. Gratuity is paid on your qualifying service in the normal way.
Since the January 2019 amendment, carried into Rule 39, an employee with less than 10 years of qualifying service may still get invalid pension, provided he or she was medically examined at or after appointment and declared fit, and the other conditions are met. Offices that still offer only invalid gratuity to someone with seven or eight years of service, retired after that date, are applying a rule that no longer exists. The DoPPW has said the amended provision does not apply to cases decided before it took effect, so an older invalidation is harder to reopen on this point.
Family pension is not affected by invalidation. If the pensioner dies, the spouse and eligible children get family pension under Rule 50 in the ordinary way. Disputes there are covered on our page on family pension claims.
If the job caused the illness or injury: extraordinary benefits
When the disability is attributable to government service, or aggravated by it, the CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023 apply in addition to the ordinary rules. Those rules replaced the 1939 Rules in January 2023. A field engineer injured in a site accident, a postman hurt in a road accident while on delivery, or a security assistant injured in a riot on duty may qualify. The benefit can be substantially higher than ordinary invalid pension, and the 10-year minimum does not apply to it.
The key document is the finding on attributability, made by the medical authority together with the controlling authority on the facts of the incident. Keep everything that shows the injury happened on duty: the duty roster, the accident report, the police or hospital record of the day and any inquiry into the incident. A disease that developed slowly is harder; the question becomes whether the conditions of service caused or worsened it. The rules also provide for a lump sum in certain cases where a disabled employee is kept in service, so check whether that applies to you if you were not retired.
A made-up example: an Upper Division Clerk in Nagpur
Here's a made-up example. Prakash, aged 51, was an Upper Division Clerk in a central government office in Nagpur. Diabetic retinopathy left him with very little vision. A medical board found him 'permanently incapacitated for further service as UDC', and in March 2026 the office retired him on invalid pension with about 20 years of service.
His pension was correctly worked out. What was wrong was the order itself. Nobody had asked whether he could work with screen-reading software, in a records or reception role, or on a supernumerary post until 60. His disability certificate under the RPwD Rules showed a benchmark visual disability that had been acquired during service, and his post was not in any exempted category.
His representation set out Section 20(4), Rule 39(1) and the board's own wording, which spoke only of the UDC post. When the office did not reply in time, an Original Application was filed. After CAT issued notice, the department recalled the invalidation order and placed him on a supernumerary post with full pay, adjusting the invalid pension already paid against the salary arrears. Not every case turns out like this. Where the medical finding truly rules out all work, invalid pension may be the right result, and the fight then is about the amount and any extraordinary benefit.
Mental illness: the cases most often handled badly
Mental illness is a specified disability under the RPwD Act, and Section 20 applies to it as much as to a physical injury. In practice, employees with depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia are often not referred to a medical board at all. Their absences pile up, memos follow, and the case ends in removal for unauthorised absence. By the time the family brings the papers, the employee has neither pay nor pension.
If this describes someone in your family, act at the memo stage. Reply in writing with the treatment record, ask that the employee be examined by a medical board, and invoke Section 20. If a removal order has already been passed, the appeal under Rule 23 of the CCS (CCA) Rules has a 45-day limit and is the place to raise the illness. Our page on RPwD Act protections in service covers the wider rights.
The provisions in one place
Section 20(4), Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016
Protects an employee disabled during service from being discharged or demoted on that account, and requires a move to another post on the same scale, or a supernumerary post in the meantime, until a suitable post or the age of superannuation is reached. Section 20 itself allows the government to exempt particular establishments by notification, having regard to the work done there.
Rule 39, CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021
Where Section 20 applies, the case is governed by it, on production of a disability certificate. Where it does not, an employee retired for a permanently incapacitating bodily or mental infirmity may get invalid pension, including with less than 10 years of service if medically examined and declared fit at or after appointment.
Rule 44, CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021
Fixes the amount of pension, including invalid pension, at half of emoluments or average emoluments, whichever is more beneficial, with a minimum and maximum.
CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023
Additional benefits where disability or death is attributable to or aggravated by government service. These replaced the 1939 Rules from 30 January 2023.
CCS (Implementation of NPS) Rules, 2021
Let an NPS employee invalided out choose between benefits under the old pension rules and the NPS route, as the rules provide.
What to do after a medical retirement order
Get the full medical record
Ask for the medical board proceedings, the form in which the finding was recorded and any opinion on attributability. Use RTI if the office will not hand them over. A one-line conclusion is not enough to judge the case.
Get a disability certificate
If you do not already have one, apply to the competent medical authority under the RPwD Rules, 2017, usually through the UDID process. The certificate is what brings Section 20 into play.
Represent quickly, and say what you want
Write to the appointing authority asking it to recall the invalidation and act under Section 20(4), naming posts you could do. If you accept retirement but dispute the amount, say that instead. Ask also for consideration under the Extraordinary Pension Rules if the cause was service-related.
Ask for interim protection if retirement is days away
If the order has not taken effect, an Original Application with a prayer for interim relief can keep you in service while the case is heard; see our page on interim orders from CAT.
File before CAT within time
A refusal, or silence for six months after the representation, permits an Original Application. Do not let more than a year pass after the retirement order without filing or a pending representation.
Keep drawing what is offered
Accepting invalid pension while you challenge the order does not usually defeat the challenge, but write a short letter saying you accept it under protest. Any later salary arrears are adjusted against it.
The papers that carry these cases
Medical
- Medical board proceedings and the prescribed certificate
- Disability certificate or UDID card
- Treatment summaries, discharge cards and specialist opinions
- Any review board finding
Service
- Retirement order and its effective date
- Service book extract with qualifying service
- Your post's duties and the posts you believe you could hold
- Any memo or chargesheet about absence during the illness
For service-related causes
- Accident or incident report
- Duty roster for the day
- FIR, hospital entry or inquiry report on the incident
- Attributability opinion, if one was given
Pension
- PPO and pension calculation sheet
- Gratuity sanction
- NPS statement and any option form, if under NPS
- Copies of all representations and replies
Time and cost, stage by stage
| Stage | Typical time | Out of pocket |
|---|---|---|
| Disability certificate | A few weeks to a few months, depending on the state and hospital | Usually nothing |
| Representation to the department | Up to six months for a decision | Postage, RTI fee if needed |
| OA before CAT, with or without interim relief | Interim relief, if granted, may come at the first or second hearing; final decision often one to three years | A small fixed fee (Rs 50 under Rule 7 of the CAT Procedure Rules; confirm the current figure with the registry), copying and lawyer's fee |
| Implementation | The period fixed in the order, commonly two to four months | Nothing, unless execution is needed |
| Extraordinary pension claim | Several months, as it needs medical and administrative findings | Nothing beyond paperwork |
Which forum and which bench
Central government employees, including railway, postal and defence civilian staff, go to the Central Administrative Tribunal. A serving employee files at the bench for the place of posting; once retired, an employee may file at the bench where he or she now lives, under Rule 6(2) of the CAT (Procedure) Rules. For an invalid pensioner who has gone home to another state after retirement, that makes a real difference to travel and cost.
Railway employees should note that medical decategorisation, where an employee fails the medical standard for one category but can do another job, has its own procedure for alternative appointment, alongside Section 20. Our guide on railway decategorisation and alternative jobs deals with it. Staff of PSUs and banks generally approach the High Court, and state government employees their State Administrative Tribunal or High Court.
NPS employees invalided out
For employees who joined on or after 1 January 2004, the CCS (Implementation of NPS) Rules, 2021 offer a choice on invalidation or disability: benefits under the old pension rules, including invalid pension and extraordinary benefits where applicable, or the NPS route with the accumulated corpus. The choice has lifelong consequences and the right answer depends on age, service, corpus size and family. Make it in writing, after seeing figures for both, and keep a copy. Our guide on invalidation under the 2021 NPS rules walks through the option.
Section 20 applies to NPS employees exactly as to others, so the first question in this page, whether you should have been retired at all, comes before the choice of benefits.
Errors departments commonly make
- Reading 'unfit for this post' as 'unfit for service'. A finding about one post is a reason to look for another post, not to retire.
- Citing no vacancy. Section 20 provides the supernumerary post exactly for that situation.
- Offering gratuity only with under 10 years. For invalidations after January 2019, invalid pension is possible with less service if the conditions are met.
- Ignoring the cause. If the disability arose from duty, the Extraordinary Pension Rules must be considered, and the office should record a finding on attributability.
- Treating illness as misconduct. Long medical absence handled as unauthorised absence can end in removal and loss of pension. It should go through the medical route.
- Not giving leave before retirement. Leave due should normally be granted before the invalidation takes effect.
If you want to stop working yourself
Section 20 protects you; it does not compel you to stay. Some employees, after a stroke or a long cancer treatment, would rather go home. If you have 20 years of qualifying service, voluntary retirement under Rule 43 is the cleanest route, and it keeps your pension. If you do not, talk to the office about invalidation, and make sure the retirement order and medical finding are on record before you stop attending. Never simply stop coming to work: that leads to the disciplinary route.
Other support may help you stay. Employees with disabilities can ask for posting near home and exemption from rotational transfer, as covered on our page on transfer requests on medical grounds, and may be entitled to double transport allowance. A few small changes in posting can make the difference between retiring early and serving out your term.
Getting your papers looked at
When Advocate B.K. Singh looks at a medical retirement file, the first thing he asks for is the exact wording of the medical finding, because 'unfit for this post' and 'unfit for any service' lead to opposite conclusions. The second is the date of the retirement order, because limitation runs from it. Bring both, with the disability certificate if you have one.
Families often bring these cases on behalf of an employee who is too ill to travel. That is fine; a family member can collect the papers and attend the first discussion, and the employee can sign the vakalatnama at home. Our page on pension and retirement dues covers related delays. For advice on a medical retirement or invalid pension, or for updates on Section 20 and the pension rules, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.
Frequently asked questions
Can the government retire me just because a medical board says I am unfit for my post?
Not without first considering Section 20(4) of the RPwD Act, 2016, which requires shifting you to another post with the same pay, or a supernumerary post until a suitable one is found or you reach superannuation. Only if Section 20 does not apply, for example because your post is exempted, does invalid pension follow.
How much is invalid pension for a central government employee?
It is calculated like ordinary pension: half of last pay or of the average of the last ten months, whichever is higher, subject to the minimum of Rs 9,000 and the maximum. Dearness relief is added, and gratuity is paid on qualifying service.
I had only 7 years of service when I was invalidated. Do I get pension?
If you were retired after the January 2019 amendment, now Rule 39 of the 2021 Rules, you can get invalid pension with less than 10 years, provided you had been medically examined and declared fit at or after appointment. Earlier cases are harder to reopen on this ground.
What is a supernumerary post?
It is a post created over and above the sanctioned strength so that an employee who acquires a disability can stay on full pay until a suitable regular post is found or until superannuation. It exists so that 'no vacancy' cannot be a reason to retire a disabled employee.
My injury happened on duty. Is there any extra benefit?
Yes, the CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023 provide additional benefits where the disability is attributable to or aggravated by government service. You need a finding on attributability, so keep the accident report and duty records.
Does Section 20 apply to CRPF or BSF personnel?
Combatant posts in the central armed police forces have been exempted by notification, so the protection may not apply. Check the current notification for your post. CAPF personnel generally go to the High Court rather than CAT.
I am under NPS. Should I take invalid pension or my NPS corpus?
The NPS implementation rules let you choose. The right choice depends on your age, service, corpus and family, so get figures for both before you sign the option, and keep a copy.
Will taking invalid pension stop me from challenging the retirement?
Usually not, if you accept it under protest and challenge the order in time. If the order is set aside, the pension paid is adjusted against salary arrears.