Supreme Court seeks Centre's reply on Armyman's plea against his posting

NEW DELHI: A jawan's plea claiming he should not be posted in operational areas to fight the enemy if he has been classified as a non-combatant, has prompted the Supreme Court to seek the government's response.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and S K Kaul issued notice to the Centre and sought its reply in four weeks on the petition of Army Service Corps (ASC) Major Amod Kumar against his posting to counter-insurgency unit Rashtriya Rifles, a combat unit, when the Army considered him a non-combatant for promotion purpose.

He contended that Army could not be permitted to take a dual stand -- treating an ASC officer as 'operational' for postings, but branding him 'non-operational' for promotion.

His petition said "Services officers are routinely deployed in operational areas despite the Army authorities holding them to be 'non-operational'. The petitioner cannot be compelled to serve in an operational area and to do so is in violation of his fundamental right and principles of natural justice."