B K SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In short the facts leading to filing of this writ petition are as stated below:- The petitioner at the time of his court martial was a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army. He was holding the rank of Subedar at the time he was tried by the court martial and had already served for about 21 years before he was dismissed from service pursuant to the General Court Martial held against him from 07.09.2000 to 09.02.2001. The petitioner in this writ petition has called in question his dismissal from service and for a writ of certiorari quashing the proceedings of the General Court Martial and for directions to the respondents to reinstate him in service with all consequential benefits.

(2.) The petitioner was posted on deputation from Army Ordinance Corps to Headquarter Inspector General Assam Rifles (North) and was attached with 12 Assam Rifles. He was detailed for duties to carry out ammunition inspection in 21 Army Rifles w.e.f. 13.08.1999 to 30.08.1999. During inspection, the petitioner discovered certain procedural lapse on the part of the personnel in handling ammunition arising out of incorrect documentation and accounting. It was alleged against him that he had threatened the concerned Ammunition-in- charge(s) of 21 Assam Rifles by using abusive language and telling them that his reporting of irregularities would invite their trial by court martial and termination of services and demanded money to cover up the same. The matter came to the notice of Major Satish Kumar (PW-16 at GCM) who was performing the duties of Delta Coy Commander through Rifleman P.V. Varghese (PW-9 at GCM) who claimed that the petitioner has extorted Rs. 6,000/- from him. Subsequent investigation revealed that the petitioner though having noticed the irregularities did not report the same to his Headquarter and instead has put personnel-in-charge of ammunition under pressure. The investigation also led to the discovery of counterfoils of two State Bank of India demands drafts made by the petitioner between the dates on which he had allegedly extorted money from the personnel of 21 Assam Rifles. The demand drafts recovered from his possession also revealed that the petitioner had used a false name 'S.D. Singh' in place of his name 'B.K. Singh'. These demand drafts were allegedly sent by the petitioner to his relative. After investigation, the petitioner was tried by a General Court Martial under Army Act Section 53(a) on six charges for committing extortion. The charges for which he was tried are as follows:-

(3.) The General Court Martial was held against the petitioner in accordance with the provisions of the Army Act and the Rules. He was given opportunity in accordance with law to defend himself at the trial in consonance with the principles of natural justice. After conclusion of the proceedings of the Court Martial, the Court Martial found the petitioner not guilty of charges No. 3, 4 and 5 and accordingly acquitted him of the said charges. However, the petitioner was held guilty by the Court Martial in respect of 1st, 2nd and 6th charges. He was awarded sentence of dismissal of service by the Court Martial vide order passed on 09.02.2001. Aggrieved by the order of the Court Martial, the petitioner filed a statutory petition under Section 164 (2) of the Army Act, 1950 on 10.08.2001. The statutory petition so filed by the petitioner was dismissed by the Chief of Army Staff vide order dated 13.06.2002 communicated to the petitioner vide covering letter dated 19.06.2002. The order passed by the Chief of Army Staff confirming the findings and sentence awarded by the Court Martial is extracted hereinbelow:-