Refusal to reconsider officer for promotion after correcting adverse report arbitrary and illegal: Delhi High Court

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, August 14

The Delhi High Court, while questioning procedural delays in the grievance redressal system, has held the Army’s refusal to re-consider a Major General for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General even after his adverse confidential report (CR) was set aside as arbitrary and illegal.

Quashing an order by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) that had denied him relief, the High Court ruled that such an officer cannot be told that even though the downgrading of his CR by his superior officers was illegal and has been subsequently, set aside by the central government, he would still continue to be deprived of his rightful promotion as his junior has already been promoted in the meanwhile and he will be required to wait for accrual of the next vacancy.

“If the petitioner is not granted review consideration for promotion despite the redressal granted to him and his stand being vindicated that he had been wrongly downgraded, the very purpose of redressal being granted to an officer would stand defeated,” a Division Bench comprising Justices Rekha Palli and Shalinder Kaur said in its order of July 12.

“This may lead to a situation like the present case, where despite being meritorious, an officer may still be denied promotion only because his superiors arbitrarily downgrade his CR,” the Bench added.

The petitioner, a Corps of Engineers officer of December 1987 seniority, was considered for promotion by the Special Selection Board (SSB) in 2023, where he learnt that despite having an outstanding career profile prior to 2021, he was downgraded in his CR. He filed a statutory complaint against his downgrading and later moved the AFT.

“The government had failed to give the officer any re-consideration for promotion after expunction of the contentious portion of the CR,” the petitioner’s counsel, Col Indra Sen Singh (retd), said. “Since the result of the earlier SSB held in February 2023 qua the vacancies in the Corps of Engineers had been directed to be declassified only subject to outcome of the case in the AFT, it was incumbent upon the respondents to hold a review board without waiting for accrual of a fresh vacancy,” he added.

The High Court also took a critical view on the Army’s promotion and grievance redressal mechanism. “There is yet another angle from which this issue can be examined. In case, the respondents plea that a review consideration can be given only against the next available vacancy and not with reference to the Board where he was wronged, was to be accepted, it would lead to a situation where in order to harm the promotional prospects of an officer, the disposal of the statutory complaint preferred by him may itself be delayed deliberately,” the Bench said.

Observing that in the present case the statutory complaint was submitted in February 2023 but was not forwarded to the competent authority till July 2023, by which time the result of the Board held in February 2023 was de-classified, the Bench “wondered” as to why the complaint was not decided before the second vacancy of Lieutenant General was filled in October 2023, but was instead decided just nine days thereafter.