A plea to challenge the Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling ordering the Indian Air Force (IAF) to compensate a veteran who caught HIV after a transfusion of contaminated blood at a military hospital in Samba, Jammu and Kashmir, was denied. The case sought compensation in the amount of around Rs 1.54 crore.
“We have read the review petition, including the arguments put forward in favor of the request for a reexamination of the September 26, 2023, decision and order. A bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta said in its opinion on April 3 that “the judgment and order under review does not suffer from any error, much less apparent error, warranting its reconsideration.”
The veteran was an IAF radar operator/technician who became ill while on duty during Operation Parakram, which was initiated after the December 13, 2001, terrorist assault on Parliament. In July 2002, after being hospitalized to the military hospital in Samba, he received one unit of blood. On September 26, of last year, the highest court ordered the IAF to compensate him with Rs 1.54 crore.