New Delhi, Feb. 13 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday underscored that the Union of India must demonstrate "fairness, consistency and even-handedness" in administering benefits to those who have served the nation, as it declared that disability pension is a "valuable right" which, once found due, must be paid from the date it became due. Pulling up the Centre for attempting to confine arrears to three years prior to the filing of claims, it said that the government could not acknowledge a right in principle while denying its substantive content in effect. Rejecting the Union's contention that arrears of disability pension should be restricted to a period of three years preceding the filing of an original application before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), a bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe held that once entitlement stands judicially affirmed, the benefit cannot be curtailed by invoking limitation or delay. "When a benefit is recognised by a policy and affirmed by judicial pronouncement, its application cannot be selective or uneven," held the bench, adding that the Union, as a model employer, is expected to extend benefits proactively rather than compel ex-servicemen to litigate for what is already due. The ruling came in a batch of appeals filed both by the Union of India and by ex-servicemen. The controversy arose from conflicting decisions of the AFT....