Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 20

Barely three weeks after the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of the Director General Medical Services (Army), the post has again come under judicial scanner with a Lieutenant General moving the apex court against the appointment of another officer as the new head of the Army’s medical branch.After the Supreme Court’s order on August 1, the Ministry of Defence posted Air Marshal Rajvir Singh, DGMS (Air Force) as the DGMS (Army) on August 10 in the rank of Lieutenant General.In his petition, Lt Gen Manomoy Ganguly has averred that he is one promotion batch senior to Rajvir Singh and also has a higher professional qualification and career profile. Ganguly, according to the petition that is expected to come up for hearing on August 27, is the second senior-most Lieutenant General after the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services, an Army Commander equivalent who heads the medical establishment of all three services.Although the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet notified Ganguly’s promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General on January 19, 2018, he is still posted as the head of the medical branch at Southern Command, a post tenable by a Major General.Earlier, Ganguly had moved the Armed Forces Tribunal for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General. The tribunal allowed his petition, but it was challenged by the government in the Supreme Court. Upholding the tribunal’s judgment in its order of August 1, the apex court observed that there had been some attempt to deny Ganguly his promotion.

Petitioner’s argument

• Post SC order, the Ministry of Defence posted Air Marshal Rajvir Singh, Director General Medical Services (Air Force), as the DGMS (Army) on August 10
• In his plea, Lt Gen Manomoy Ganguly has averred that he is one promotion batch senior to Rajvir Singh and also has higher professional qualification and better career profile