Tribunal for cases of armed forces gets on with shooting practice

The Armed Forces Tribunal takes up its first case; declines to stay the proceedings of an Army Promotion Board for senior officers on the plea of a major general

The Indian soldiers will now get justice delivered their own way fast and pointed.

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), a special tribunal to clear 10,000 cases related to the three Services that are pending in various High Courts across the country, took up its first case in which it declined to stay the proceedings of an Army Promotion Board for senior officers on the plea of a Major General.

Filing a writ petition before the Tribunal on Tuesday, Major General S P Sinha had sought to either stay the proceedings of the Special Selection Board for promotion of officers from Maj Gen to Lieutenant Gen or exclude his Annual Confidential Report (ACR) from being reviewed by the Board till the time discrepancies in it were cleared by the Army.

In his two complaints filed earlier in the Delhi High Court, Maj Gen Sinha had stated there were discrepancies in the gradings given to him in his present and previous ACRs. "Maj Gen Sinha said the Army should be asked to reserve a vacancy in the rank of Lt Gen till the time his complaint of discrepancy in ACR was sorted out by the Army, which was opposed by us," Army's Counsel Jyoti Singh said.


During the hearing of the case before the Bench of Justice S S Kulshrestha and Lt Gen S S Dhillon (retd), Singh argued that the Army has provision of organising a Special Review Board for such officers and there was no need to stay the Board or reserve any vacancy in the rank of Lt Gen.

After hearing the submission from both sides, the court decided not to stay the Promotion Board and has given 10 days to the Army to dispose off Maj Gen Sinha's statutory complaint and come back on August 24 to update the court on the progress made in the issue.

Maj Gen Sinha, an Ordnance Corps officer, had first filed the petition in the Delhi High Court, which transferred it to the AFT.

Over 10,000 cases related to the three Services are pending in various High Courts across the country and most of them are expected to be transferred to the Tribunal, which is headed by Justice A K Mathur.The Tribunal will also act as the appellate forum for the Armed Forces personnel against verdicts of court-martial, thus meeting a major demand of the tri-services.

The Principal bench of the AFT is located in Delhi and has three courts in it. The tribunal was inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil on Saturday.

For Speedy Justice
President Pratibha Patil on August 8 inaugurated the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), an exclusive court for nearly 2.5 million serving and retired defence personnel.

Over 10,000 cases related to the servicemen are pending in various High Courts across the country and most of them are expected to be transferred to the AFT, which is headed by Justice A K Mathur.

The Principal bench of the AFT is located in Delhi and is has three courts in it. The Tribunal will also act as the appellate forum for the Armed Forces personnel against verdicts of court-martial

SOURCE : MID DAY