Financial Assistance to Disabled Ex-Servicemen, Haryana

What is Financial Assistance to Disabled Ex-Servicemen in Haryana?

Financial Assistance to Disabled Ex-Servicemen is a state welfare scheme of the Sainik and Ardh Sainik Welfare Department, Government of Haryana, delivered through the Rajya Sainik Board at Panchkula and the Zila Sainik Boards in each district. The scheme supports ex-servicemen who left the Armed Forces on medical grounds with a disability that the services did not accept as attributable to service, and who therefore do not draw a central disability pension for it.

According to the department, the scheme grants Rs 3,000 per month, with an annual increase of Rs 400 every November, effective from 1 November 2017. That yearly escalation is a distinctive feature: most state welfare payments are revised only when a fresh notification is issued, whereas this one steps up on a fixed calendar.

Haryana has one of the highest densities of ex-servicemen in the country, and the Sainik and Ardh Sainik Welfare Department is the single window for state benefits for them. This scheme sits alongside separate departmental grants for marriages of daughters, education, and assistance to widows.

Key features

• Base assistance of Rs 3,000 per month, escalating by Rs 400 in November each year.
• Available irrespective of age, unlike the department's age-based assistance for ex-servicemen aged 60 and above.
• Sanctioned by the Rajya Sainik Board on a file forwarded by the Zila Sainik Board.
• No arrears for any period before the date of sanction.

Who is eligible for the disabled ex-servicemen assistance?

You can apply if:

• You are an ex-serviceman of the Armed Forces.
• You are a bonafide resident of Haryana, evidenced by a domicile certificate from the competent authority.
• You were discharged from the Armed Forces on medical grounds.
• Your disability is not attributable to service, which is the specific gap this state scheme fills.
• You are not receiving any other financial assistance or pension for the same disability from a state department, which the NOC from the District Social Welfare Department must confirm.

Age is not a bar. The department's condition is expressly "irrespective of age", so a young medically-boarded-out soldier qualifies on the same terms as a much older veteran.

You cannot apply if:

• Your disability is attributable to service. Those cases are covered by the central disability pension from the Ministry of Defence and are not eligible here.
• You were not discharged on medical grounds, for example on completion of terms of engagement or at own request.
• You are not a bonafide resident of Haryana, even if you served from a Haryana unit.
• You are already drawing a state disability pension or other financial assistance for the same condition.

What documents are required?

The original discharge book requirement trips up many applicants who send a photocopy. The department is explicit that the original issued by the Record Office is needed for scrutiny, and equally explicit that it will be returned through the Zila Sainik Board once the case has been considered.

How to apply for financial assistance to disabled ex-servicemen

1. Collect the core papers first, the original discharge book, the Haryana domicile certificate, and the medical board proceedings showing discharge on medical grounds with the disability recorded as not attributable to service.
2. Obtain the No Objection Certificate from the District Social Welfare Department stating that you draw no other financial assistance or pension, and swear the affidavit verifying your particulars.
3. Register or sign in at saralharyana.gov.in, select Apply for Services, and open the Sainik and Ardh Sainik Welfare Department's financial assistance service for disabled ex-servicemen. Fill in the form, upload the documents, and save the Application Reference ID.
4. Submit the complete physical case to the Zila Sainik Board of your district, including the original discharge book. The Zila Sainik Board is the scrutinising office and the point of contact throughout.
5. The Secretary, Zila Sainik Board scrutinises the case and forwards eligible applications with a clear recommendation to the Rajya Sainik Board for sanction.
6. On sanction, collect your discharge book back from the Zila Sainik Board and confirm that the monthly credit has begun in your bank account.

When does the money start, and how much builds up?

Assistance is payable from the first day of the month following the month in which the case is sanctioned by the competent sanctioning authority of the Rajya Sainik Board. The department states plainly that no arrear is paid for any period prior to the date of sanction.

That rule has a practical consequence worth spelling out. Every month spent gathering the NOC or the domicile certificate is a month of assistance permanently lost, the file cannot be backdated to the date of disability or the date of discharge. Applicants should therefore start the paperwork as soon as the medical discharge is complete rather than waiting.

The base rate is Rs 3,000 per month with an annual increase of Rs 400 in November, applied from 1 November 2017 onwards. The increase applies to existing beneficiaries automatically; there is no need to re-apply each November.

How to check the status of your case

1. Use the Application Reference ID on saralharyana.gov.in in the Track Application Status box for the online leg of the application.
2. Contact the Secretary, Zila Sainik Board of your district for the status of the physical file, since the substantive scrutiny happens there.
3. Once sanctioned, verify the credit in your bank passbook. A sanctioned case with no credit is normally an Aadhaar-seeding failure at the bank.

Common reasons a case is rejected

• Disability attributable to service. The case belongs with the Ministry of Defence disability pension, not this state scheme.
• Discharge not on medical grounds — the discharge book entry decides this, and it cannot be re-characterised later.
• Photocopy of the discharge book submitted, the original is required for scrutiny.
• NOC not attached. The file is returned unprocessed.
• Domicile not established, a Haryana domicile certificate from the competent authority is needed, not merely an address in the state.
• Already drawing another state pension for the same disability.

Where to go for help and grievances

• Zila Sainik Board of your district, the first and most useful point of contact for this scheme, and the office that holds your file.
• Rajya Sainik Board, Sainik Bhawan, Sector 12, Panchkula 134112, the sanctioning authority.
• Antyodaya-SARAL helpline: 0172-3968400 and saral.haryana@gov.in, 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, for problems with the online application.
• CM Window, Haryana's grievance platform, for cases pending unusually long.

The scheme charges no fee. The only unavoidable costs are the stamp paper for the affidavit and the standard charge for a domicile certificate.