AFT reinstates 2/Lt after 25 yrs :::THE GOLD BISCUITS | Sanjha Morcha website basically designed to facilitate veterans to read defence related print media news , reproduced from various National/Regional /International Newspapers and Magazines and Videos related to welfare of defence personnel. click link below to open website.

Slaps Rs 5-cr fine on Ministry of Defence; asks for promotion up to Lt Col

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, January 20

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has reinstated Second Lieutenant Shatrughan Singh Chauhan after 25 years, restoring his seniority and promotions as well as imposing a fine of Rs 5 crore on the Ministry of Defence.The matter, which came up before AFT’s Justice DP Singh and Air Marshal Anil Chopra yesterday, is about Mainpuri native Second Lt SS Chauhan, who had been serving in the Sixth Rajput Battalion when he was court martialled on November 4, 1991, which sacked him and awarded him seven-year imprisonment.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The order was later confirmed by the then General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Udhampur. In a major indictment of his seniors, the AFT observed that his senior officers had purposely implicated the young officer in a false case to ensure that the gold he had recovered during a search operation could be concealed from the government.The AFT order quashing Chauhan’s sacking order has directed the Defence Ministry to provide him promotional avenues up to the stage of Lieutenant Colonel for the purpose of arrears of salary pension benefits and rank.The ministry is also to pay Rs 4 crore to Chauhan and another Rs 1 crore has to be deposited in the Army Central Welfare Fund within four months.The case goes back to April 11, 1990, when during the peak days of militancy during a search operation in Srinagar, Chauhan in the presence of other soldiers had recovered 147 gold biscuits weighing around 27.5 kg.The CO, Colonel KRS Panwar allegedly put pressure on Chauhan not to mention the gold in the documents. The other senior officers also remained silent.The gold biscuits were allegedly embezzled by the senior army officers. The officer took the matter to Parliament’s Committee of Petitions. The Army headquarters ordered a separate inquiry.It was during the inquiry that some army officers covering him with a blanket attacked Chauhan while he was sleeping in a tent.In 1991, the court martial cut short Chauhan’s career sentencing him to seven-year jail on charges of being a deserter and mentally unstable.

Court-martialled officer reinstated after 26 years

LUCKNOW: The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has restored the services of a second lieutenant, who was court-martialled in 1991, and imposed a fine of ₹5 crore on the ministry of defence.

SS Chauhan, who was a second lieutenant in the Indian Army’s Sixth Rajput Battalion, was posted in Srinagar when he was court-martialled on various charges, declared a deserter and mentally unstable.

The rank of a second lieutenant is no longer in use in the army and all new officers are commissioned as lieutenants.

Passing the judgment on Thursday, justice DP Singh and air marshal Anil Chopra quashed Chauhan’s court-martial.

They also ordered the defence ministry to reinstate the officer as well as provide him promotional avenues up to the stage of lieutenant colonel for the purpose of arrears of salary, pension benefits and rank.

The tribunal also ordered the ministry of defence to pay ₹4 crore to Chauhan and deposit ₹1 crore with the Army Central Welfare Fund within a period of four months.

Chauhan, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district, was court-martialled on November 4, 1991, and the order was approved by the then General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Srinagar.

The officer’s ordeal began when he recovered 147 gold biscuits weighing around 27.5kg during a search operation in Srinagar on April 11, 1990.

In his petition, Chauhan pointed out that the gold biscuits were recovered from a house in the presence of other soldiers and were handed over to the then Colonel KRS Pawar and then Lt General Zaki Mohammad Ahmad.

The gold biscuits were allegedly ‘embezzled’ by the senior army officers.

During the trial, the tribunal observed that Chauhan’s senior officers implicated him in false cases to ensure that the recovery of gold could be concealed from the government.

Justice Singh and Air Marshal Chopra directed the chief of the army staff to look into the matter and ensure that appropriate action is taken against those who were instrumental in persecuting Chauhan and complete the inquiry in four months.