Older Army was sluggish in Kargil, Narendra Modi government tells Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Modi government submitted before the Supreme Court that a much-older Indian Army was “sluggish” in its response during the Kargil war, to defend its move to go ahead with its plans to have younger, fitter colonels, at the helm of its combat units over non-combat units.
The Armed Forces Tribunal had on March 2, 2015, struck down a Defence Ministry circular to have fighting-fit colonels under 40 in the combat units, acting on pleas by older officers who were expecting promotions to these posts. Wednesday’s submission was part of the Ministry of Defence’s appeal against this ruling.

Appearing for MoD, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi suggested that the Army, headed by much older officers, was sluggish in the war. The AG’s stand was at odds with claims by the Vajpayee government after successfully driving out Pakistani infiltrators following a 60-day war.

A three-judge bench, comprising Justices TS Thakur, R Banumathi and Amitava Roy, eventually stayed the AFT order. Defending the policy introduced selectively in combat units, Rohatgi argued that an individual officer only had a right to be considered for promotion, but not a right to be promoted.

He said that MoD had created 1,500 additional colonel posts, 750 in 2004 and another 734 in 2009, mostly for the infantry, mechanised infantry and the armoured corps – the Army’s actual fighting units for better efficiency and a younger command structure.

This was justified on the ground that the older get averse to taking risks and become less alert and adaptable to hostile terrain and climatic conditions.

This resulted in much heartburn among those working in non-combat units who then successfully challenged the policy before the AFT.

Rohatgi said the decision to give promotions to those in combat units was taken on the basis of recommendations of several committees. He told the court that such a decision was taken after post-Kargil appraisals found the commanders of Pakistan and Chinese armies were 37 and 40, respectively, whereas the Indian commanders were 45. This resulted in operational deficiencies, he said.

Some of these posts did also go to those in non-combat units, he said. But the bench did not agree with his line of reasoning. “You can’t afford to have disgruntled, dissatisfied and frustrated officers in other wings of Army,” Justice Thakur said.

Rohatgi said no such comparison can be made between combat and non-combat units as the latter were the ones who actually fight in inhospitable and inaccessible terrain against enemies. But “there is no guarantee that the next battle will be in Siachen. It could be in the deserts of Rajasthan,” Justice Thakur observed. “In Rajasthan too, they will be fighting without access to water. You need to be young and vigilant,” the AG was quick to add.