SOUBHAGYA CHANDRA PATNAIK Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner -- a Jawan cadet in the 54 A. D. Battery, 19 Air Defence regiment of the Indian Army at present in Cuttack Jail -- challenges the order dated August 8, 1967 of the Lt. Colonel Commanding 19 Air Force Regiment, by which the petitioner was awarded six months' rigorous imprisonment and was also dismissed from service, stated to have been passed after trial by a Summary court-Martial in the said Unit, on a charge of having committed the offence of, without sufficient cause, overstaying the leave granted to him, under Section 39 (b) of the Indian Army Act, 1950 (Central Act 46 of 1950 ).

(2.) ON March 2, 1967 the petitioner was granted leave for two months with effect from that date and was permitted to proceed to his village to avail of the leave. While on leave, the petitioner is said to have fallen ill from April 29, 1967 and is stated to have been in a delirious condition until May 3, 1967. He got a medical certificate from the Government Hospital at Delang in the district of Puri and on July, 25, 1967 the petitioner reported to duty. Soon thereafter, he was put in custody by the military authorities. The petitioner's illness relapsed and he was under medical treatment in the military hospital while in custody. The disease, which was found to have relapsed, was found to be chronic.

(3.) ON August 3, 1967 the petitioner was charged under Section 39 (b) of the indian Army Act with the offence of having, without sufficient cause, overstayed the leave granted to him, in that the petitioner, having been granted leave of absence from March 2, 1967 to May 2, 1967 to proceed to his home, failed to rejoin duty on the expiry of the said leave without sufficient cause till he voluntarily joined, on July 25, 1967. He was charged by the Officer Commanding 19th Air Defence Regiment; in the charge-sheet it was also stated that he was to be tried by Summary Court-Martial.