Apex Court dismisses Plea of the Army to stay orders of Armed Forces Tribunal in respect of a serving Brigadier instrumental in killing 52 Pak army personnel in Drass Sector
The Special Leave Petition filed by the Army to lift the stay granted to Brig L I Singh by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), Principal Bench, New Delhi on 27 Jan 2016 was dismissed on Monday in the Apex court by the Chief Justice, T S Thakur on the ground that the Respondent (Brig L I Singh) took the right decision by filing Review Application at the AFT and did not approach the Apex Court directly after his writ petition was terminated on 21.03.2015 due to lack of jurisdiction by the Delhi High Court because of an intervening judgement of Apex court of 11.03.2015 on a different matter. The Chief Justice was critical against the plea of the Learned Additional Solicitor General, Maninder Singh, representing the Army, that “when you have not filed reply to condonation of delay at the AFT, how do you justify there was inordinate delay. Moreover the Respondent filed the Review Petition at the Armed forces Tribunal, New Delhi within 30 days after its termination. The Chief Justice also said that you as the ASG expect to be liberal when there is long delay of ten months while filing Leave Petition by you, and expect us to be strict against the Respondent”.
The primary aim of the Army in filing the SLP against the interim order of AFT of 15.05.2015 and 27.01.2016 is to lift the stay order of 29.04.2013 granted in favour of Brig Singh by Delhi High Court so that Brig L. I. Singh is prosecuted in a fabricated case so as to please some personnel holding influential positions in the Army. The double standard and hypocrisy is proven by the fact that when an adverse final judgement against the organisation was passed by the Ld. AFT in the case of Lt. Gen. P. K. Rath (Retd) vs Union of India and Ors, OA No 214/2012 on 14.09.2014, the Appellants did not choose to file an appeal in the Apex Court, so as to embarrass Gen (Retd) V K Singh (presently MoS External Affairs), whereas in the instant case they choose to do so, despite being only interim orders. Simultaneously, another agenda is to delay the finalisation of the case ie. Original Application 85/2013 by the AFT to deny promotion and career growth to Brig Singh.
The case is a fabricated one as a vendetta against Brig Singh as he had coordinated initiation of administrative actions in May 2012, including serving of show cause notice, imposition of vigilance ban for next promotion against Lt. Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag and two more senior officers for abdicating responsibility in a botched army operations in Jorhat, while Suhag was Dimapur based 3 Corps Commander, as per legal provisions and under the directives of the then Army Chief, Gen. V K Singh. The official actions by Brig L I Singh hurt the ego of these senior officers and could have perceived that delay in their promotions, serving of SCN and Censure Orders against them were due to wrong advice given by him to the then Army Chief, when the truth was that he only acted in official capacity as per legal provisions and on the orders of his superiors. He had no personal interest in the matter. Because of this Brig L I Singh filed an Application with the Ld. Tribunal on 14.03.2013 for violations of Statutory Rules, principles of natural justice, mala fide and biasness amongst others.
Despite clear directions in the month of Jan by the Tribunal to the Army to file reply within four weeks, The Army have submitted the reply till date, despite two hearings. Now it is adjourned for July, which proves to be a deliberate delay tactics to delay justice to Brig Singh.
It is surprising that when the appeal against the AFT Orders was not recommended twice by the MoD, Dy LA (Defence) and JS & LA (Def) in Oct 2015, how has it been recommended subsequently by the JAG Branch (Army) and Discipline and Vigilance Directorate, ignoring the advice of MoD and gone for the SLP through backtrack channel. This need to be investigated as the motive appears to be to please someone in the Army holding influential positions who has masterminded the fabricated case against Brig Singh and also to delay early finalisation of the case in the AFT.
L I Singh is a recipient of Yudh Seva Medal (YSM) for his service in the face of enemy during Operation PARAKRAM and Operation RAKSHAK in Drass Sector, presently holding the rank of Brigadier after having served since 1983 as an Infantry Officer of the highest caliber with an impeccable and unblemished service record. He is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College and had unique distinction of serving two tenures during initial skirmishes with the Pakistanis (most difficult period) in Siachen Glacier (Operation Meghdoot) in 1985-86 and 1990-92. He commanded 13 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infatry in Drass Sector (J&K) during Op Parakram, during which, besides causing enormous destruction to enemy personnel and habitat, his battalion occupied six new posts under extreme hostile conditions, including Point 5608, a formidable feature overlooking Shingo Valley( in Pakistan). His unit was awarded Unit Citation and Unit Appreciation on Army Day 2004 and 2005, a rare distinction; besides earning 64 individual gallantry awards by his troops.
Beside personnel, holding influential positions in the Army responsible for this fabricated case, even our arch enemy Pakistani Army must be giving a wicked smile after learning that the officer instrumental for killing 52 Pakistanis and injuring 20 in Drass during operation Parakram in 2002-03, has been purged by his own fellow officers. At this rate the Indian Army does not need enemy, but internal rivalry will do the job automatically.
Now the case will be finally decided by the Tribunal in July after its summer break, subject to timely submission of reply by the Army. For Brig L I Singh it is just the beginning of the End, there is a long battle he has to fight for his honour and reputation.
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