K KOCHHAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was posted as a Lt. Commander in the Indian Navy at the time of filing of this writ petition. He was aggrieved by his non-promotion consecutively by the three promotion Boards, on the ground, that his ICRs/ACR for various period had not been written properly. He was also aggrieved on account of rejection of the representation made against his non-promotion vide order dated 31st May, 2001. He prayed for quashing of the aforesaid order and holding of a fresh selection board for considering him for promotion to the rank of Commander after setting aside his ICRs/ACR.

(2.) The petitioner claims that he is one of the excellent officers in the Indian Navy with proven track record. It is stated that the petitioner on successful passing out from the Naval Academy was granted permanent commission in Indian Navy on 1st January, 1986 and was considered for the prestigious 'Sword of Honour' amongst the first five cadets in overall merit and also won the coveted Western Fleet, Astro Navigation prize and has been a highly motivated officer having taken part in operation Brasstacks, operation Pawan and operation Vijay. It is the grievance of the petitioner that despite being a true soldier, he was denied his dues right from 1991 to 2002 by his non- promotion to the rank of Commander and was also denied the prestigious Staff Course whose criteria the petitioner meets fully. In this writ petition, besides challenging the order dated 31st May, 2001, he has also assailed the Interim Confidential Report (for short 'ICR') from 11th February, 1996 to 18th September, 1996, ICR from 19th September, 1996 to 31st May, 1997, ICR from 1st June, 1997 to 31st October, 1997, ICR from 1st November, 1997 to 30th April, 1998 and ACR from 1st May, 1998 to 21st October, 1998.

(3.) The petitioner before filing this petition had also filed a complaint in terms of Rules 235 and 236 of Navy Regulations Part II, which was rejected. This necessitated the petitioner to address his complaint to the next superior authority in accordance with Rule 239 of the Navy Regulations Part II requesting for forwarding his complaint to the next superior authority and to the Chief of the Naval Staff to be dealt with in accordance with sub regulations (1) and (2) of the said Rule. The Division Bench which dealt with the matter on 4th March, 2005 gave directions to the Navy Authorities to dispose of the complaints filed within the time fixed and disposed of the writ petition. However, later on it transpired that before passing of the order dated 4th March, 2005, the statutory complaint of the petitioner had been disposed of and therefore, on an application filed by the petitioner, the petition was revived.