Supreme Court stays ruling on Army's promotion policy
The army officers had claimed that the policy, also known as 'command exit promotion policy', had adversely affected them and it was arbitrary and highly skewed in favour of Infantry and Artillery.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a recent decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) to quash the Army's promotion policy for the rank of Colonel from January 2009.
The policy had triggered widespread unrest within the Army. The army officers had claimed that the policy, also known as 'command exit promotion policy', had adversely affected them and it was arbitrary and highly skewed in favour of Infantry and Artillery.
A three-judge bench comprising Justices T.S. Thakur, R. Banumathi and Amitava Roy stayed the operation of a March 2 decision of the AFT after the Defence Ministry mentioned its appeal before it. The AFT had earlier allowed the plea of certain officers including Lt Col P. K. Choudhary, that the 2009 promotion policy has resulted in preferential promotions to officers of select branches of the Army and hence should be scrapped.
The tribunal had found the policy to be violative of Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution.
In its appeal, the Centre justified the promotion policy saying that the Army, being the employer, has a right to have its promotion policies and that the AFT should not have interfered in the policy decision.
It further said that the age profile of unit commanders in Pakistan and Chinese armies was 35 and 40 years, respectively and hence the age limit of battalion commanders in the Indian Army also needed to be less. The Centre, in 2001, had asked the Chief of Army Staff to refer the recommendations of A.V. Singh Committee (AVSC) on restructuring of the officer cadre of the Army.