The Armed Forces Tribunal has taken a strict stand against the Army for allowing retired officers, including a former chief, to write service records of active personnel.

Taking a strict stand against the Army for allowing retired officers, including a former chief, to write service records of active personnel, the Armed Forces Tribunal has recently said this was against the command and control of the force and may open a “gallery of corrupt practices”.

The remarks were made by the AFT while hearing the case of one Major General G V S Rana for denial of promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General in which it was found that former Army chief Gen Bikram Singh had written his appraisal after retirement.

In the court, the Army was rebuked by the bench headed by Justice D P Singh and Air Marshal Anil Chopra on the matter even as the force said denial to make Annual Confidential Report entry after retirement is contrary to Army jurisprudence.

“We feel that conferring power to the retired Army officers to make entry in the service record of serving officers shall be anti-thesis to the command and control of the Army, and further, it may open a gallery for corrupt practice,” the bench stated in its verdict.

ARMY’S PLEA

The Army had filed a plea to seek permission from the tribunal against its previous verdict where it had denied such powers to retired chiefs in the same case.

“It is a well-settled law that once the relationship of master and servant breaks then all rights to discharge duties come to an end,” said the tribunal.

The tribunal had already declared the entry made by Gen Singh in the officer’s ACR as “illegal, invalid and void” in its judgment.

“In the present case, Gen Bikram Singh shall cease to discharge duty after retirement, conferred on him under law. He retired on July 31, 2014 but recorded ACR entry as senior reviewing officer on September 1, 2014 without jurisdiction… The CR recorded by Gen Bikram Singh, Chief of the Army Staff as SRO, after retirement is without jurisdiction and the same cannot be taken into account for the purposes of service benefits,” said the court.

The tribunal also asked the Army to consider Maj Gen Rana for promotion to the next rank by holding a special selection board. The tribunal verdict is now likely to be contested by the Army in the Supreme Court.