Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Shri Kant Tripathi, Member (J) 1. The applicant, M.Even, had filed Writ Petition No.15381 of 2007 in the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to add his past service as Safaiwala from 21.3.1979 to 21.3.1994 to his second spell of service as Safaiwala and sanction him pension with effect from the due date. A prayer for quashing the order dated 19.3.2007 (Annexure G) passed by the first respondent has also been made. 2. The aforesaid Writ Petition has been received in this Tribunal under Section 34 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act and has been re-numbered as T.A.No.229 of 2010. 3. Most of the facts are not disputed. The applicant, M.Even, had two spells of service as Safaiwala in 115 Infantry Battalian, Territorial Army, Mahar Fort, Belgaum. He joined the first spell of service on 21st March 1979 and was discharged therefrom on 31.3.1994 on completion of terms of engagement (Annexure A Discharge Certificate). During the initial engagement of 1...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Thomas Mathew, Member (A): 1. The petitioner is a retired Naval Officer, who took voluntary retirement after 21 years of service in the Navy. He is aggrieved by the proceedings of a Court Martial because of which his seniority in the substantive rank of Commander was forfeited for 12 months. He was also dismissed from I.N.S.Kirpan, the ship he commanded and severely reprimanded. This petition was filed before the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala challenging the sentence of the Court Martial and also rejection of his Review Application. The petition has now been transferred to this Tribunal. 2. The brief facts of the case is that, the petitioner was appointed as the Commanding Officer of I.N.S.Kirpan in June 2003. The ship was deployed under the Southern Naval Command at Kochi in November, 2003. The ship was on patrolling duty at Minicoy Islands on 25.11.2003 when damage was caused to the propellers of the ship. On returning to Kochi on 27.11.2003, a Board of Inquiry (BOI) was ordered to fi...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
PADMANABHAN NAIR, MEMBER (J). PROLOGUE: All these Transferred Applications were filed before the High Court of Kerala under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and transferred to this Tribunal, consequent to its formation. Since common questions of law and facts arises in these cases, they were consolidated, heard together and disposed of by this order. FACTUAL MATRIX: T.A. No.17 of 2009: Petitioner was enrolled in the Army on 31.3.1979. At the time of enrolment, medical examination was conducted and he was sent for training to Gaya in the State of Bihar. While undergoing training, he became sick and was admitted in Military Hospital, Dhanpur. He was transferred to Military Hospital, Jabalpur and underwent treatment for six months. The petitioner was included in low medical category 'E' and was examined by the Release Medical Board. It was found that petitioner was suffering from 'Catatonic Schizophrenia'. He was discharged from service on 20.9.1980. The petitioner's claim for dis...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Lt. Gen. Thomas Mathew, Member (J): 1. The applicant who is serving in the Navy at Kochi is aggrieved by the denial of next promotion to him by the respondents. He has filed this application with a prayer to grant him the promotion retrospectively with all consequential benefits. 2. The applicant was considered for promotion to the rank of MSCPO for the first time in 2010, but he was not empanelled. He was again considered in the year 2011 for promotion but again failed to make the grade. Meanwhile, considering his statutory complaint, the competent authority excluded the Annual Confidential Report of 2008 from being included in the Promotion Board of 2012. However, he still did not come within the required merit for promotion. 3. It is the case of the applicant that he was posted to Naval Analysis Unit (NAU) at Chennai from June 2007 to January 2010. This was his second posting at the NAU and the period 2007 to 2010 was crucial since he was to be considered for promotion in 2010. Duri...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Thomas Mathew, Member (A): 1. The applicant is a serving medical officer of the Indian Navy who is aggrieved by his rejection to the next rank by the promotion board. He has filed this application with a prayer to review his relevant records and to promote if found suitable. 2. The applicant holds the rank of Surgeon Captain in the Navy and was screened for promotion to the rank of Commodore by three promotion boards between 2008 and 2010. In all these boards he was found in 'Non select' category. Immediately after, the first promotion board on 06/11/2008, he had filed a statutory complaint which gave him partial relief by expunging Box Gradings of Initiating Officer (IO), Reviewing Officer (RO) and First Technical Officer (FTO) in the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of 2004. He was put through a Review Board after expunging the Box Gradings. However, he still did not make it to the 'select' grading. Once again after the third Promotion Board held on 24/11/2010, he filed another statu...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Shrikant Tripathi, Member (J): 1. In all these matters, the question whether the Group Captains (Time Scale) are entitled to be treated at par with the Group Captains (Select) regarding the age of superannuation and as such, are entitled to serve the Air Force up to the age of 57 years in place of 54 years has arisen, therefore, with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, all these cases were heard together and are being disposed of by this common order. 2. The applicant, Group Captain Saji Abraham, No.16647, who filed O.A.No.58 of 2013, retired as Group Captain (Time Scale) from the Air Force service during the pendency of the instant petition on 31st May, 2013. He had prayed for a stay against his retirement, but it was denied. However, the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala, in O.P.(AFT) No.1867 of 2013, preserved the rights whatsoever of the applicant. If the age of retirement of this applicant had been 57 years instead of 54 years, he would have continued in service upto 31...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Shrikant Tripathi, Member (J): 1. In all these matters, similar questions of law and facts are involved for decision, therefore, with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties they were heard together and are being disposed of by this common order. 2. Heard Mr.Ashok Kumar and Mr.Rohit Kumar, appearing for the applicants in T.A.Nos.240 of 2010 and 5 of 2011, and Mr.Ramesh C.R. for the applicants in T.A.Nos.232/10, 233/10, 234/10, 239/10, 4/2011 and O.A.No.83 of 2011 and Mr.K.M.Jamaludeen. Senior Panel Counsel and Mr.Tojan J.Vathikulam and Mrs.E.V.Moly, Central Government Counsels for the respondents in all the matters and perused the record. 3. All the applicants have impugned their respective discharge from the service, which was made on the ground that each of them got their enrolment in a fraudulent manner. We, therefore, consider it just and expedient to state brief facts of the cases, leading to their discharge before narrating their independent allegations. 4. It appears ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Shri Kant Tripathi, Member (J) 1. In these three matters, common questions of law and facts are involved, therefore, they are being disposed of by this common order. 2. In the instant Original Applications filed under Section 14 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007, the applicants have claimed disability pension. 3. The relevant facts of each case are being narrated separately as follows: (i) OA No.130 of 2010: The applicant, Nandakumar. J.,No.769270 K, joined the Indian Air Force on 20.12.1994. He was found medically fit in the primary medical examination at the time of enrolment. During July 1998, while working at 153 Helicopter Unit, Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, he had reported to the unit medical authorities with complaints of diminished appetite and generalised weakness. He was referred to Command Hospital (NC) for the opinion of the Classified Specialist. Since he was showing the symptom of depression, he was referred to Psychiatrist and was diagnosed as a case of Schizophren...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Padmanabhan Nair, Member (J). 1. Petitioner has filed this proceedings for quashing Ext. P15 order and to reinstate him in the Aviation Cadre and assign him the Observer's Badge. This proceedings was filed as a Writ Petition before the Honourable High Court of Kerala. The proceedings was transferred to this Tribunal, consequent to its formation. 2. In the petition the petitioner has averred that the petitioner was commissioned in Indian Navy in the Executive Branch in January, 1981. He underwent 100 hours of flying training in Islander Aircraft (fixed wing aircraft) and he was awarded Observer's Badge in the year 1984. The petitioner got his training in Squadron 330, which was having Sea King Helicopter 42A. He continued in the Squadron 330 till January, 1988. In July/August, 1988 he fell ill due to Jaundice and placed under low medical category. When the petitioner was declared medically fit for flying, Squadron 330 was upgraded with Helicopter Sea King 42B and the Helicopter Sea King...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Armed forces Tribunal AFT Regional Bench Kochi
Shrikant Tripathi, Member (J): 1. The applicant, M.K. Mishra, Ex POELP No. 169764-B filed this Original Application (appeal) challenging the verdict of the Court Martial, whereby he was found guilty of the charge under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 77(2) of the Navy Act, 1957 and was accordingly dismissed from the service. 2. In this order we will not disclose the identity of the victim and so she will be referred to as the 'victim'. The names of her parents will also not be disclosed and they will be referred to as 'father' or 'mother', as the case may be. 3. The story leading to the trial of the applicant is that on 9th February, 2008 at about 15.50 hrs., he met the victim and her sister, while they were going to the shopping complex at Sailors Married Accommodation for recharging their mobile phone. He offered them a lift to the shopping complex. Both the victim and her sister accepted his offer as they were taking tuition along with his daughter with the sa...
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