NEW DELHI: Andaman Nicobar Command chief Vice Admiral Bimal Verma has once again moved the armed forces tribunal (AFT) to challenge his supersession for the Navy chief’s post after the defence ministry failed to respond to his statutory complaint within 10 days.
Vice Admiral Verma, who is in New Delhi to attend the top naval commanders’ conference that was inaugurated by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, had earlier on April 9 withdrawn his petition after the AFT told him to follow due procedure by first lodging his statutory complaint with the government.
As was then reported by TOI, the AFT (which has powers of a high court) held Vice Admiral Verma should first exercise the internal remedies available for grievance redressal under Section 23 of the Navy Act by filing the statutory complaint with the MoD, and that he would be free to approach the AFT after exhausting them. In his statutory complaint, the senior officer had asked the MoD to respond within 10 days. The petition is now likely to come up in the AFT for hearing in a couple of days.
The government on March 23 had announced that Eastern Naval Command chief Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, who is six months junior to Vice Admiral Verma, will take over as the next Navy chief from Admiral Sunil Lanba after he retires on May 31.
Vice Admiral Verma’s lawyers, including his daughter Rhea, argue the government took an “arbitrary and whimsical decision” to supersede him for the Navy chief’s post. They contend the government wrongfully used two letters of severe displeasure issued to him in 2005 and 2007, which were valid only for a limited period, to overlook him for the top post despite him being the senior-most naval commander in service.
The government, however, contends that merit, and not just seniority, will be the deciding factor in selecting officers for top ranks in the armed forces. Vice Admiral Verma’s case is the second such supersession by the NDA government, which had bypassed two senior Lt-Generals (Praveen Bakshi and P M Hariz) to appoint General Bipin Rawat as the Army chief in December 2016.
Vice Admiral Verma, who is in New Delhi to attend the top naval commanders’ conference that was inaugurated by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, had earlier on April 9 withdrawn his petition after the AFT told him to follow due procedure by first lodging his statutory complaint with the government.
As was then reported by TOI, the AFT (which has powers of a high court) held Vice Admiral Verma should first exercise the internal remedies available for grievance redressal under Section 23 of the Navy Act by filing the statutory complaint with the MoD, and that he would be free to approach the AFT after exhausting them. In his statutory complaint, the senior officer had asked the MoD to respond within 10 days. The petition is now likely to come up in the AFT for hearing in a couple of days.
The government on March 23 had announced that Eastern Naval Command chief Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, who is six months junior to Vice Admiral Verma, will take over as the next Navy chief from Admiral Sunil Lanba after he retires on May 31.
Vice Admiral Verma’s lawyers, including his daughter Rhea, argue the government took an “arbitrary and whimsical decision” to supersede him for the Navy chief’s post. They contend the government wrongfully used two letters of severe displeasure issued to him in 2005 and 2007, which were valid only for a limited period, to overlook him for the top post despite him being the senior-most naval commander in service.
The government, however, contends that merit, and not just seniority, will be the deciding factor in selecting officers for top ranks in the armed forces. Vice Admiral Verma’s case is the second such supersession by the NDA government, which had bypassed two senior Lt-Generals (Praveen Bakshi and P M Hariz) to appoint General Bipin Rawat as the Army chief in December 2016.
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