AFT stays retirement of Brigadier till his result for promotion is declaredA Colonel who shot off a legal notice to the Defence Secretary over stopping free rations to Army officers, has finally received free rations today. However, in the intervening period he was also punished for his action and lost out on promotion to Brigadier.
It was in June this year that the Ministry of Defence had accorded sanction in principle for the restoration ‘free rations in kind’ to officers of Army, Navy and the Air Force posted in peace stations. The move came after the intervention of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh soon after he took office.
Colonel Mukul Dev, an officer of the Army’s Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) Department, the legal wing of the Army, on Wednesday tweeted his happiness at seeing the free rations privilege being restored. “Pleasantly surprised today morning for having received my entitled rations at last after more than two years of illegal stoppage. However, one cannot forget injustice meted to me for raising my voice against the illegal stoppage of entitled rations,” he said.
Colonel Mukul Dev, who is now posted at a military station in the western sector, was issued a ‘Displeasure’ by the Army authorities just before his promotion board for the rank of Brigadier was to take place in May 2018 and which effectively stopped his name from being empanelled for promotion. He has challenged the punishment accorded to him for sending the legal notice in the Armed Forces Tribunal.
In his petition before the AFT, a copy of which is available with The Indian Express, Colonel Dev has contended that the punishment was given to him to harm his chances of becoming a Brigadier.
“The respondents have been granting free rations to all officers as a service privilege and such privileges are mentioned in the advertisements issued by the respondents for seeking candidates for commission into the Army. The respondents issued directions to stop provision of ‘Free Rations’ to officers posted in peace area on Jul 1, 2017 and as such since the orders changed the terms and conditions of service and the applicant in with the aim to take legal recourse for his entitlement issued legal notice dated Jul 1, 2017 to the Union of India through the Secretary Ministry of Defence without giving any copy to anyone,” the petition states.
Following the serving of legal notice on the Defence Secretary and its circulation on social media platforms, the Army served a show-cause notice on the Colonel to which he replied that his right to seek legal remedy has not been abrogated by any law or constitution despite him being in the Army and that it was as available to him as to any other citizen of India.