AFT can’t adjudicate all cases under Army Act: SC

Indian Military Veterans

R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, June 6
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) had no power to entertain all cases filed by personnel governed by the Army Act.

Merely because a litigant “is subject to the Army Act would not by itself be sufficient to conclude that the tribunal has the jurisdiction to deal with any case brought before it by such a person,” a Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and AK Sikri clarified.

“It would depend upon the subject matter which is brought before the tribunal and as to whether it fell within the definition of ‘service matters’ as contained in Section 3(o) of the AFT Act,” the Bench held.

The apex court made the clarification while setting aside a judgment delivered by the AFT’s Chandigarh Bench in a case filed by Col GS Grewal, posted (on secondment) at the office of the Director General of Quality Assurances (DGQA) of the Department Defence Production.

Col Grewal had approached the AFT challenging the Defence Ministry’s April 23, 2010 order that no further promotion would be given to the officers permanently seconded to organisations such as the DGQA and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) unless they returned to the Army.

He had contended that the 2010 order ran counter to the Permanent Secondment and Promotion Policy issued by the DGQA on November 16, 2007, under which “officers once permanently seconded will continue in the organisation till they retire and will be considered for promotion to higher grades against their vacancies.”

The Defence Ministry had opposed his plea before the AFT on merit and other aspects, including the tribunal’s jurisdiction to entertain the case. The government had cited the April 9, 2010, verdict of the AFT’s Principal Bench in a case filed by Maj Gen SB Akali seconded to the DRDO.