AFT issues notice for imprisonment to Major General for defying court orders

Tribune News service

Chandigarh, September 2

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has sought an explanation from a Major General posted at Army Headquarters as to why he should not be imprisoned for contempt for failing to implement the AFT’s directions.

The AFT’s Chandigarh Bench observed that despite directions to the officer concerned, serving as Additional Director General (ADG), Personnel Services, to file an updated case status and also to be present in person, he had chosen to defy this court's order.

“Let notice be issued to the ADG PS to show cause why an order of confinement to civil prison be not passed keeping in view his conduct of persistent wilful defiance of orders of this Court,” the Bench of Justice Sudhir Mittal and Air Marshal Manvendra Singh said in their order. The matter is fixed for next hearing on September 4.

In February 2024, the ADG was directed to file an affidavit intimating the latest case status on a matter pending before the AFT. The matter was adjourned to August 8, 2024, but the affidavit was not filed on this date, prompting the AFT to issue notice for contempt of court and directing the officer to be personally present in court.

On August 30, the AFT observed that despite the said order, no reply to the show cause notice issued had been filed nor was the ADG present in court, even though a request on his behalf from another officer seeking exemption had been denied.

The conduct of the officer clearly shows that he has no regard for orders issued by the courts of competent jurisdiction. That the reason for his absence today is not an official commitment but a personal requirement is evident from the fact that his subordinate officer who appeared through video conferencing was not disclosing the same despite having been asked a number of times.

“The contemnor thus appears to be guilty of wilful disobedience of orders of this court and deserves to be punished in accordance with the provisions of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. No reply to the show cause notice having been filed shows that there is no explanation for not filing an affidavit despite an order passed on February 29, 2024. The officer is not even present to explain the reason for the violation and thus the only option left with this Court is to punish him,” the Bench ruled.

According to legal experts, the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts have in the recent past passed strong observations past against the Defence Ministry and the Army authorities for flooding the courts with writ petitions and appeals against orders passed by the AFT in favour of disabled soldiers which are already covered by existing judgments and the law settled by the Supreme Court.

Ex-servicemen organisations have also condemned the tendency of the defence ministry of dragging disabled soldiers, old pensioners and widows up till the Supreme Court in all judgments passed in their favour by the AFT and High Courts.