Tribunal puts promotions to rank of Lt General on hold

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 21

Restraining the Army from promoting officers to the rank of Lieutenant General till further orders, the Armed Forces Tribunal has directed the Ministry of Defence to hold a fresh promotion board to consider three Major Generals for elevation.

Three officers of the 1983 batch of the general cadre —  Maj Gen SC Mohanty, Maj Gen Sudhakar Jee and Maj Gen ML Mohan Babu — had moved the tribunal after they were not empanelled for promotion by the Special Selection Board in October 2017.

According to earlier court orders, they were subsequently given redress related to their Annual Confidential Reports and they had sought directions from the tribunal that they be considered for promotion as per the old promotion policy that prevailed during their consideration by the Board held in October 2017.

A new promotion policy for Generals had been introduced in December 2017.

The tribunal’s Bench, comprising Justice Virender Singh and Lt Gen Philip Campose, while imposing costs of Rs 50,000 on the government for misconduct and interference in the administration of justice in each of the three cases, today said in open court that the MoD may convene the review promotion board before June 21 and not to carry out any promotions to the rank of Lieutenant General till July 3, the next date of hearing.

Reference was also made to a similar case of Maj Gen VK Singh, wherein the AFT ruled in 2018 that he be considered for promotion as a review case as the policy in place during his initial consideration. This order had been upheld by the Supreme Court.