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Army Chief promises help to restore normalcy

Army Chief promises help to restore normalcy
General DS Suhag (centre) during a visit to Kashmir on Friday.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 9

Amid the ongoing unrest, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag reviewed the security situation in the Kashmir valley today.A defence spokesman said the Army Chief visited defence formations in the north and south of the Valley.“The Army Chief reviewed the security situation and collaborative measures of security forces towards ensuring peace and calm in the region,”  the spokesman said.The Army Chief was briefed by Lt Gen Satish Dua, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Chinar Corps, on the various initiatives undertaken by the Army all across the Valley to bring about peace.“General Suhag reinforced the need to synergise efforts with all other stakeholders and assured all support for bringing normalcy, particularly in south Kashmir,” the spokesman said.General Suhag landed in Srinagar this morning and visited various forward areas on the Line of Control in Kupwara district to review the preparedness of the Army in dealing with infiltration from across the border.The Army Chief was accompanied by Lt Gen DS Hooda, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, and the Chinar Corps GOC.This was the Army Chief’s fourth visit to the state since the unrest erupted in July. He commended all ranks of Chinar Corps for their operational preparedness and commitment to the cause of national security. “He directed everyone to ensure strict vigil along the Line of Control,” the spokesman said. 


‘Yeh Dil Mange More…’ Maj Gen Raj Mehta (retd)

THE Kargil Army Chief, Gen VP Malik, in his book ‘Kargil: From Surprise to Victory’ says it best when he says that Capt Vikram Batra, after killing four Pakistani soldiers in a hand-to-hand fight and subsequent capture of Point 5140 called his CO exuberantly giving out his pre-arranged success code: Yeh Dil Mange More…This heart seeks more (victory). The recall of a handsome young man (later posthumously awarded PVC) repeating the tag line of a cola campaign became “the stuff of legends” as the General elegantly puts it.This is what a resurgent Army, certainly a resurgent India — a late comer to live drawing room TV coverage — badly needed after the initial setbacks; the ugliness born out of being surprised by a treacherous enemy who had professed peace at Lahore even as Pakistani troops configured as militants were climbing up to cross the LOC into India. Yeh Dil Mange More expressed this resurgence wonderfully and aptly; setting the national mood on fire; certainly it’s young across gender.Militarily, however, it is educative to understand the complexities that go into the formulation of greatness by taking the example of the capture of Point 5140; one of many critical successes that led us to victory during the Kargil War.At 1930 hours on 19 June 1999, tension was perceptible at the base of Point 5140. CO 13 JAK Rif, Lt Col (now Gen) Yogesh Joshi was giving his final briefing to Capts Vikram Batra and Sanjiv Jamwal. His orders were comprehensive, yet terse: The battle cry Durga Mata Ki Jai must be heard before dawn and the success signals fired and narrated on radio. Yeh Dil Mange More… Better orders which left the young officers otherwise free to improvise while conducting their mission could not have been given. Joshi was doubtlessly inspirational, succinct and pithy. At 2030 hrs even as darkness fell, the Gunners opened up, ‘shooting in’ the two attacking companies up to 200 metres short of the objective. The courageous troops, however, came up under murderous automatic fire immediately thereafter and asked to have the artillery fire resumed till they were just a 100m short of the objective. This implied that fratricide losses were acceptable; not failure…An amazing orientation. This is when Durga Mata Ki Jai was yelled out, chilling the shocked enemy. As the fierce close quarter battle progressed at 16,900 feet, many sub tales of heroism came up (a soldier/quality Basketballer continuing to attack with just the stump of his hand left…) Capt Jamwal gave out his success signal shortly thereafter: O Ya Ya Ya…Col Joshi had to wait however for the success of Vikram Batra who was tasked to capture the  daunting peak and before first light at 0430 hours, it did…The radio suddenly crackled with Batra’s euphoric Yeh Dil Mange More one-line narration…Pt 5140 had been taken at 17000 feet and without loss of life. India celebrated; the Army celebrated. Yeh Dil Mange More should be seen as the magic alchemy that converted startup losses into stunning, unprecedented victory…Not just for the resurgent Indian Army but for India as a whole. It was euphoria for our Alpine bravehearts and for India.


SC treads on Article 370

SC treads on Article 370
article of faith: The autonomy of J&K should not be trifled with.

THE Supreme Court of India, notwithstanding some controversial decisions in the matter of constitutional interpretation, has, by and large, contributed to the upholding of the rights and privileges of the States and individuals. But with a decision in Ajay Kumar Pandey Vs. State of J&K & Anr., decided by the Constitution Bench on July 19, 2016, there has arisen the apprehension of interfering with the autonomy of J&K, guaranteed under Article 370 of the Constitution of India.The Constitution Bench has decided that the Supreme Court has the power to transfer a civil or criminal case pending in any court in the State of Jammu and Kashmir to a court outside that State and vice versa. It was common case that the provisions of Section 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure and Section 406 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empower the Supreme Court to direct the transfer of civil and criminal cases, respectively, from one State to the other, do not extend to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and cannot, therefore, be invoked to direct any such transfer. It was also common ground that the Jammu and Kashmir Code of Civil Procedure, 1977, and the Jammu and Kashmir Code of Criminal Procedure, 1989, do not contain any provision empowering the Supreme Court to direct the transfer of any case from that State to a court outside the State or vice versa. It was common ground that the provisions of Article 139-A of the Constitution, which empowers the Supreme Court to transfer a case pending before one High Court to itself, or to another High Court, also has no application to the cases at hand as the Constitution 42nd Amendment Act, 1977, which inserted the said provision itself, has no application to the State of J&K. Thus while accepting that a litigant has no right to seek the transfer of a civil or a criminal case pending in the State of Jammu and Kashmir to a court outside the State or vice versa,  still the court notwithstanding these formulations, went on to answer the question whether independent of all these provisions contained in the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure, there is there still a source of power which the Supreme Court can invoke for directing the transfer of a case from the State of Jammu and Kashmir or vice versa. The Supreme Court has held that it has such a power, invoking the principle of “access to justice” being the fundamental right, and secondly, the powers given under Article 142 of the Constitution. The court relied on the principle of our law that every citizen has a right of unimpeded access to a court and referred to Raymond v. Honey 1983 AC 1 (1982 [1] All ER 756) where Lord Wilberforce described it as a ‘basic right’. But with respect, the attention of the Supreme Court was not brought to the specific observations of Lord Wilberforce and its affirmation in this very case; emphasising the exception that; “a citizen’s right to unimpeded access can only be taken away by express enactment… and we accept that such rights can as a matter of legal principle be taken away by necessary implication”. Here, in the present case, the provisions mentioned above specifically negate the right of a litigant to have a case transferred out of J&K, but still the court has held otherwise.The Supreme Court then dealt with the question, namely whether Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the Supreme Court to direct the transfer in a situation where neither the Central Code of Civil Procedure or the Central Code of Criminal Procedure empowers such transfer to/from the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The court thereafter concluded that the powers under Article 142 are wide enough to empower the Supreme Court to direct such a transfer in appropriate situations, no matter whether the Central Code of Civil and Criminal Procedures do not extend to the State nor do the J&K State Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure contain any provision that empowers this court to transfer cases. It is unfortunate that the attention of the court was not drawn to a seven-judge Bench case AR Antulay v. RS Nayak 1998 (2) SCC 602 where the court held: “Thirdly, however wide and plenary the language of the article, the directions given by the court should not be inconsistent with, repugnant to or in violation of the specific provisions of any statute. If the provisions of the 1952 Act read with Article 139-A and Section 406-407 of the CrPC do not permit the transfer of the case from a Special Judge to the High Court, that effect cannot be achieved indirectly.” It is also unfortunate that the attention of the Supreme Court was also not drawn to an earlier five-judge judgment of the Supreme Court (1998), wherein the court said: “Article 142, even with the width of its amplitude, cannot be used to build a new edifice where none existed earlier, by ignoring express statutory provisions dealing with a subject and thereby to achieve something indirectly which cannot be achieved directly…. that the court will take note of the express provisions of any substantive statutory law and regulate the exercise of its power and discretion accordingly. It must be remembered that wider the amplitude of its power under Article 142, the greater is the need of care for this court to see that the power is used with restraint without pushing back the limits of the Constitution so as to function within the bounds of its own jurisdiction.”More serious than the concern mentioned above, this judgment has, in an indirect manner, nullified the mandatory provision of Article 370 of the Constitution. The J&K legislature has specifically provided that the court will have no such power to transfer cases from J&K courts outside the State. In such a situation, to invoke the powers of Article 142 to pass orders contrary to J&K legislation is a serious breach of Article 370 having grave consequences. I hope the Union of India and the State of J&K will seek a review of this judgment to avoid serious constitutional and political consequences, so as to ensure the people of J&K that there will be no weakening of their autonomy. — The writer is a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court


AFT lambasts Centre for filing frivolous leave to appeal pleas

The Union of India cannot behave like an irresponsible litigant resorting to filing applications indiscriminately for leave to appeal in almost all cases without application of mind. The bureaucratic psyche needs to be changed. ARMED FORCES TRIBUNAL BENCH

CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has lambasted the Union government for filing frivolous leave to appeal applications in almost every case.

The bench headed by justice Surinder Singh Thakur said: “The Union of India cannot behave like an irresponsible litigant resorting to filing applications indiscriminately for leave to appeal in almost all cases without application of mind. The bureaucratic psyche needs to be changed.”

The bench was hearing to a leave to appeal filed by the central government in a case where the AFT has granted a retired soldier, Yashwant Singh Bharmouria, disability pension with benefit of rounding off of disability percentage.

Appeals against the AFT orders cannot be filed before the Supreme Court as a matter of right. The permission from the AFT is mandatory before challenging the order before apex court by filing a leave to appeal application. The AFT grants permission only if a point of law of general public importance is involved in the order.

Passing strictures, the bench said: “We feel the Union government or its instrumentalities should not resort to haphazard filing of leave to appeal/special leave petition as it involves wastage of public time and money and also, at times, causes such an injury to the individual that cannot be compensated in terms of money. At the same time, the dockets of the court are rising at the cost of poor litigants’ money, which becomes unbearable to them to approach the highest court even to defend frivolous appeals against them.”

“The Union government is a welfare state which enjoys the trust of citizens. Their rights are required to be protected. Once the matter is settled by the Supreme Court, it has to be implemented to uphold the rule of law, without resorting to raising frivolous pleas, which causes insecurity and distress to the system.”

Dismissing the “frivolous” application, the bench added: “To see the faith of the common man is not shattered, it would be advisable in the interest of justice that appeals against the orders/judgment in which the point in issue which has attained finality be compiled with without any ifs and buts in a time-bound manner, failing which we shall be constrained to impose exemplary costs and award litigation expenses to be recoverable from the officers/ officials who would raise frivolous objections for not implementing the tribunal’s order.”


I-Day: Paragliders, drone detectors to guard Red Fort

NEW DELHI: For the first time, paragliders and drone detectors will watch over Red Fort — from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation during the 70th Independence Day celebrations on Monday.

SUSHIL KUMAR/HTSecurity personnel rehearse at Red Fort on Saturday ahead of the Independence Day celebrations.

The national capital’s security has been tightened with over 12,000 policemen and several companies of paramilitary forces deployed on the routes to the monument.

The police will deploy ‘spotters’— special commandos equipped with fully automatic assault rifles and high-tech gadgets.

Over 400 sharpshooters will be positioned on all high-rise buildings around the venue. National Security Guards, Border Security Force and SWAT commandos will be at strategic locations, said police.

Guards will stand at 605 balconies and 104 windows that open towards Red Fort. “The commandos will be spread out within a 500-metre radius around the venue. We will have policemen in plainclothes,” a police source said.

Twenty-five cops at a control room near the venue will monitor the live feed from 600 CCTV cameras. Cameras will take panoramic photos of the venue, said police. “Dog squads are being sent on the venue five times a day for thorough checks. We will have our quick reaction teams on standby,” a senior police officer said.

The city’s borders have been sealed. The area over Red Fort will be a no-fly zone during the celebrations. Crucial spots such as Parliament complex, international airport, railway stations, inter-state bus terminals and Metro stations will be under vigil.

The traffic police have restricted traffic movement. “Detailed traffic deployment will be in place to facilitate the movement of VIP vehicles, invitees and the general public. Public are requested not to touch any suspicious object. They are requested to immediately report about the presence of any suspicious movements…to the nearest policeman,” said joint commissioner of police, Garima Bhatnagar.

Goods vehicles won’t be allowed between Nizamuddin Bridge and Wazirabad bridge. Interstate Buses will not be allowed between Maharana Pratap ISBT and Sarai Kale Khan. Local buses won’t operate on Ring Road and between Hanuman Setu and Bhairon Road ‘T’ Point between 4 am and 11 am on Monday, said police.

SECURITY CHECK AT JAMIA VARSITY

Policemen reportedly conducted a “routine check” at Jamia Millia Islamia University on Saturday ahead of the Independence Day. Students protested against police entering the university and said they raided the boys’ hostel and disrupted classes.

“How can police enter any university without permission from the court or the university? This is clearly yet another attempt by the government to harass the students,” said student and National Students Union of India member, Laraib Ahmed.

Police said the checks were a part of the Independence Day routine. “The checks are a part of the security drill. We have got 1,500 forms filled in the district to ensure that no outsider is living in the area. This is to ensure residents’ safety,” said a senior police officer. The university said it was a routine check. “This is not a raid. Students have misconceived it. This was just to check that everything is fine in terms of security,” said university media co-ordinator, Iftekhar Ahmad.


ARMY DOCTORS’ RETIREMENT Centre opposes plea for service till 65

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi,  August 13

The Centre is against increasing the retirement age of army doctors to 65 years in line with the age limit for their civilian counterparts. “Army always has its own retirement age for its personnel from time immemorial,” Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh pleaded with the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The Centre took the stand before a Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra, which was hearing a PIL by some of the doctors who retired last month after being denied the benefit of a recent government notification on the new retirement age for civilian doctors.

The ASG also pleaded that retirement age was a service issue for which the doctors had no right to approach the apex court directly. The proper forum for resolving the controversy was the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), he contended.

Other affected doctors had already approached the AFT, New Delhi, and as such the petitioners in the Supreme Court should be directed to join the litigation pending with the AFT, Singh pleaded.

Accepting the Centre’s plea, the Bench asked the petitioners to approach the AFT. The apex court directed the Tribunal to dispose of the case expeditiously, preferably in three months.

On July 29, the Bench had asked the Centre to respond within two days to army doctors’ plea for enhancing their retirement age to 65.

The petitioners from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) had pleaded that the Centre had enhanced the retirement age of non-teaching civilian doctors to 65 years, but the Defence Ministry was not extending the benefit to the army where doctors retired at 60 or 62, depending upon their rank.

However, other government wings such as paramilitary forces had decided to follow the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) decision to retire doctors at 65 years of age from May 31this year.

If the army was not willing to retain them, they should be transferred to other departments facing shortage of doctors so that they could continue to serve till 65, they pleaded.

The Centre’s move to increase the retirement age has come at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making use the services of experienced doctors for the benefit of the poor.


Unhappy with 7th pay panel, armed forces write to Modi

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 12

Seeking a quick redress against shortcomings of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC), the three armed services — The Army, IAF and the Navy — have collectively written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has not issued the notification in regard to enhanced pay like other Central Government employees, who will get higher wages from September 1. The notification has been held up as issues raised by the three services are being considered.The three forces have recently sent a collective letter through the office of the Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) – the CoSC being the senior most among the Chiefs of the three services. Air Chief Marshall Arup Raha, the IAF Chief, is the present CoSC.A letter from the services to Modi and Parrikar seeking better wages is not unprecedented. After the Sixth Pay Commission, the services had faced a similar “lowering of status”. The then CoSC, Admiral Sureesh Mehta (now retired) had shot off a letter to the UPA-I regime. A high-powered committee was set up in 2008 under Pranab Mukerjee (then a minister in Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet) to study the matter.The services, in their letter, have pointed out four key issues that need to be addressed and lift the morale of the forces. The first is how the salaries of the service officers have been “artificially suppressed”. The formula applied for basic pay fixation is different than the one applied to other Central Government employees. As a result, in each rank the service officers have ended up being lower in pay scales.In the government, facilities like car, housing, or sanctions for air travel depend upon the basic pay.The second is the non-acceptance of the demand for non-functional upgrade (NFU). After the last pay commission (the sixth), the government allowed “non-functional scale upgradation” and allowed Group-A officers to get the same scale as a Joint Secretary, but after 24 years of service.Strangely, the armed forces are neither classified as group “A” services nor are they termed as “Central services” like the IAS or the IPS and did not get NFU. Now, with others getting NFU the gap gets widened.The third issue is higher military service pay (MSP) for junior commissioned officers (JCOs). They rise from the lower ranks (jawans). The 7th CPC has clubbed the MSP of JCOs and jawans at Rs 5,200. The demand is to have it at Rs 10,000 for the JCOs. The MSP for officers between Lieutenant-rank and Brigadier-rank is common at Rs 15,500.The fourth main issue is lowering of disability pension. As per the new formula, okayed by the 7th CPC, soldiers/officers with 100 per cent disability will see their pensions reduced from the current levels. However, in case of the disabled of other services their perks will rise.In March this year, the MoD had conveyed to an empowered committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary that the status, pay and allowances of the armed forces be kept above all other “fighting” arms of the government. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also taken up the case that issues of status, pay and allowances for the forces have to be paramount.

Four key issues highlighted

  • First, the 7th pay panel’s recommendations have “artificially suppressed”salaries of the service officers. In each rank, service officers have ended up being lower in pay scales
  • Second, non-acceptance of the demand for non-functional upgrade has widened the gap with other Central employees
  • Third, the military service pay for junior commissioned officers and jawans should be Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 5,200
  • Finally, the 7th pay panel’s new formula for pension lowers the benefits of soldiers/officers with 100 per cent disability

IAF jet crashes in West Bengal, pilots eject safely

IAF jet crashes in West Bengal, pilots eject safely

Kolkata, August 4

A Hawk advanced jet trainer on Thursday crashed soon after take-off from Air Force Station, Kalaikunda, in West Midnapore due to a “technical snag” but both the pilots ejected safely.

IAF sources said the aircraft developed a technical problem at about 1100 hours, minutes after taking off from Kalaikunda air station in West Bengal, where another Hawk had crashed in June last year.

The crash occurred within the boundary of the air station, 138 km from here, and the two pilots ejected safely, they said.

“A Court of Inquiry has been instituted into the crash,” an IAF source said.

Last year in June, another Hawk had crashed after taking off from Kalaikunda station as it developed a technical problem. Budding fighter pilots undergo their stage-III training for a year on Hawk. — PTI


Punjab Police got all credit for Dinanagar op: Lt Gen KJ Singh

ANCHKULA: Lt Gen KJ Singh, Western Army commander Command, who is retiring on July 31, has said that the role of army in neutralising the terrorists at Dinanagar (Gurdaspur) on July 27 last year was underplayed.

He said the light machine gun (LMG) bullets that killed at least one of the three terrorists were those of army. “At Dinanagar, Punjab Police wanted to tackle terrorists on their own. But by the time they reached there, our jawans had taken positions. Of the three terrorists, our LMG fire killed at least one (or it can be two) as we backed the police,” he said. He said a bomb too was disposed of by the army, but all the credit went to the police.

“Pakistan wanted to alter the arc of terrorism by including Gurdaspur, Samba. We had terrorist incidents at Arambag, Arnia, Samba, Dinanagar and Pathankot. We thwarted Pakistan’s designs,” he said.

WILL RIDE THE TANK HE WAS COMMISSIONED ON

“I will spend some time on the tank at Amritsar on which I was commissioned,” said Lt Gen KJ Singh. He will go to Amritsar on Sunday for fulfilling his wish. On how did he find the tank, he said, “Like people find their exgirlfriends on Facebook, I also found ZX 1685. It’s a T-55 tank and is still in service.

My journey with the Army started 50 years ago at an age of 14 when I joined the Sainik School at Chittorgarh, in 1966. On May 30, 1973, I left the school and joined NDA on June 30 the same year. I never went to college. The only college I went to was Army War College,” he said.

Lt Gen Singh will hang up his boots after puttin in 39 years’ of service in the armed forces. ON SUCCESSOR

“Only I am retiring, not the Western Command. I cannot comment on why a permanent commander has not been appointed. But Lt Gen Jagbir Singh Cheema, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Vajra Corps, who has been given the charge as an interim arrangement, is fully competent. The only thing is that he doesn’t have a fixed tenure. He has been GOC of 11 Corps for a year and before that he was Chief of Staff, Eastern Command,” he said. ON CHINA

The Western Command shares 200-km border with China. “But we don’t have any boundary dispute with China in this area…At Kaurik and Shipki La passes, we are eyeball to eyeball with them. We have to remain vigilant,” he said. ON FUTURE PLANS

Lt Gen KJ Singh said he wanted to settle down in Gurgaon, but after coming here, he changed his mind. “As of now, I don’t have a house of my own, but I have invested in DLF Valley, Pinjore. I will settle down there,” he said. He thanked Panjab University for offering him the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Chair to him.

A FINAL BYE BEFORE HANGING UP BOOTS

Lt Gen KJ Singh, general officer commanding-in-chief, Western Command, bidding adieu to armymen at Chandimandir on Saturday. The general, who is hanging his boots after 39 years of service, on Sunday, plans to settle down at a Pinjore colony.