'He Isn't Suited To Military Lifestyle; Father's Desires Pushed Him Into This', Delhi HC Advises Lt. Col To Let His Son Choose His Life Path [Read Order]

While observing that the petitioner is not suited to a military lifestyle and possibly the desires of his father pushed him into this, the Delhi High Court recently advised the father of the Petitioner (Lt. Col) to allow his son the freedom to choose his life path and allow him to blossom forth in whatever he so chooses, which is certainly not the Indian Army.The Bench Justices Asha Menon and Rajiv Sahai Endlaw made these observations while hearing the plea of a young aspirant to the Indian Army.The facts of the CaseAfter clearing the Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the interview conducted by the Service Selection Board (SSB), including medical fitness, the petitioner joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on 8th July, 2017 for his Pre-Commissioning Training to join the Indian Army as a Commissioned Officer.Unfortunately, the petitioner was subjected to ragging and was admitted to the hospital from 17th July, 2017 to 26th July, 2017. On 27th July, 2017, he also filed a complaint against the ragging and the inhuman treatment that he had been subjected to by his seniors.He did complete his First Term successfully and was promoted to the Second Term along with his batch-mates in the 143rd Regular Course IMA.However, a week before the Second Term came to an end in May 2018, the petitioner was served with a Notice to Show Cause as to why he should not be 'Relegated' for having accumulated 60 Restrictions in two terms from 8th July, 2017 to 30th May, 2018.Despite his reply, the petitioner was 'Relegated' and completed his Second Term after repeating it, with the 144th Regular Course IMA.However, on 7th March, 2019, the petitioner was served with another Show-Cause Notice asking him to explain as to why he should not be 'Relegated' to a batch junior for having accumulated 65 Restrictions in two consecutive terms.Thereafter, as per his claims, in an arbitrary manner, the Commandant IMA relegated the petitioner from the 144th Regular Course IMA to the 145th Regular Course IMA.With regard to the final Physical Training tests, the petitioner submitted that these tests were slated for 7th November, 2019 in the morning during PT time.However, the previous night, on the directions issued by the Coy Cdr Zojila Coy (who used to harass him, as per the claims of the Petitioner), the petitioner was made to stand outside the Battalion Duty Officer's room in Full Pack 08 with 40 Kgs of sand and bricks filled into it from 2300 hours to 0200 hours.As a result, the petitioner was completely exhausted and he could not perform to the best of his physical capacity. That was the reason why he failed in three of the PT tests, namely, 'Toe-Touch', 'Rope' and 'Vault' and he sought another chance to clear these tests.On 9th November, 2019, the petitioner states, he was called by his Battalion Commander and awarded several restrictions in one go, which were awarded back dates.He alleged that these illegal punishments, in the form of 26 restrictions awarded by the Bn Cmdr sealed the future of the petitioner and were only intended to ensure that the petitioner gets withdrawn from the IMA.Further, he submited before the court that instead of providing him with another chance to clear the remaining PT tests, as requested, the petitioner was issued another Show-Cause Notice on 19th November, 2019 asking him to explain and show cause as to why he should not be 'Relegated' for failure to attain requisite minimum standard in Physical Training, and subsequently withdrawn as per Para 70(a)(ii) of the HQ ARTRAC.Subsequently, the petitioner was 'Relegated' and was ordered to be withdrawn from the IMA on 23rd November, 2019.In the backdrop of these facts the petitioner sought the quashing of the withdrawal letter dated 16th January, 2020 and further directions to the respondents to permit the petitioner to clear the remaining PT tests and on qualifying the same to be restored to the original seniority of the 145th Regular Course IMA.The stand of the RespondentsThe respondents disputed these allegations and in turn, claimed that the Officers at the IMA had given every kind of support to the petitioner to improve his attitude and performance and yet the petitioner could not fit into the discipline required for a life in the Indian Army and was also found physically unfit, particularly because of being over-weight and that action has been taken strictly as per the Rules and upon the third Relegation, withdrawal was the only course left with the IMA.Court's AnalysisAfter perusing the record, the Court was of the view that the IMA had acted strictly in accordance with the Rules of HQ ARTRAC, in respect of the punishments, the 'Relegations' as well as the 'withdrawal'.Further, the Court stated that the explanation offered by the petitioner for failure in the 3 Physical Tests may appear plausible but for the fact that the records reveal that the fundamental cause of failure was the...

'He Isn't Suited To Military Lifestyle; Father's Desires Pushed Him Into This', Delhi HC Advises Lt. Col To Let His Son Choose His Life Path [Read Order]

Sparsh Upadhyay

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