Military court stays retirement of Army Brigadier till Def Min clears air on his promotion

In a significant development, a military court stayed the retirement of a Brigadier till his promotion board results are released by the Defence Ministry a few days before his superannuation.

In a significant development, a military court stayed the retirement of a Brigadier till his promotion board results are released by the Defence Ministry a few days before his superannuation. The principal bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) issued this judgment in favor of Brigadier KK Nandwani, who is a doctor with the Army Medical Corps, and had approached the court as the results of his promotion board for elevation to the rank of Major General were not being declassified and he would have retired by August 31.

"We direct that the retirement of the applicant should not be given effect to till declassification of results of the said No. 1 Promotion Board (AFMS) for AMC after it is reconvened, as ordered on July 19 this year. In case the applicant is approved for promotion to the rank of Major General and there is a vacancy available for his promotion on that date, he should be promoted with effect from August 31, 2020," the bench headed by AFT Chairman Justice Rajendra Menon said in its order. However, the court made it clear that in case, Nandwani is not approved for promotion by the reconvened board, he will be deemed to have retired on August 31 and he will return any salaries or allowances, if any, beyond his pension that may have been paid to him with effect from September 1, 2020, for his services after that date.

In the plea filed through his counsel Major SS Pandey, it was pointed out that the promotion board in question was supposed to be held in the entire 2019 but was held with a long delay in April 2020 only. Pandey said when the delayed board was held on April 28, 2020, its proceedings were submitted to the Defence Ministry for approval on the 29th but they were not approved and returned on July 29 with an order to reconvene which was " being unfair and detrimental to my client's interests."

As per the plea, Nadwani was scheduled to be considered again for promotion by the board to be held in 2019 for vacancies occurring in 2020, but the Board was not held in 2019 even though the Defence Ministry was duty-bound to hold the Promotion Board at least three months prior to February 2020, when the first vacancy of Major General was due to occur in 2020. The plea stated that the board to be held in 2019 was constantly postponed and could not be held in the whole year.

Reacting to the judgment and the delays in holding promotion boards by the Defence Ministry, Pandey said after the appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff, promotion in the three services is processed through him but the control of the Armed Forces Medical Services is not under the Department of Military Affairs. "There was no need of sending the result back for reconvening the board for Lt Gen and Maj Gen which is almost unprecedented. Well-known officers who had legitimate rights will be adversely affected as has happened in the present case," Pandey said.

"This was protested by service headquarters twice but they have the fixed mindset which was the reason CDS has been given such authority for other promotions. Hopefully, this judgment will be implemented and will not be used as a reason to victimize my client," he added. 

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