Our paramilitary forces need a dedicated tribunal

Frustrated and demoralised personnel can do more harm than good. Speedy redressal of grievances is important

Constable Vithal Patel, a water carrier with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was dismissed from service in 1997. His offence? He wrote a letter to the prime minister about the service conditions of CRPF personnel. He got relief only after battling in the Gujarat High Court for more than 18 years. The government was directed to reinstate him and pay him salary for the period he wasn’t in service. The government incurred a heavy loss. In another long-drawn legal battle, the Delhi High Court rejected CRPF constable Kumar Pal Singh’s plea for reinstatement. He was dismissed for being a member of a mob that raised abusive anti-government slogans in 1979. The High Court’s judgment was pronounced last year.

Personnel of India’s paramilitary forces —CRPF, BSF, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Assam Rifles — end up knocking on the doors of justice for years on end. Finally, when the verdict is pronounced in favour of the litigant, without any services rendered, the government ends up sustaining a huge loss.

With an overall strength of nearly 10 lakh personnel in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) as the paramilitary forces are known, legal cases are mounting in the forces. The average number of years to settle cases is around six years, says a senior CRPF officer. Not infrequently, paramilitary officers approach the courts with matters concerning their promotions which take a number of years and tend to demoralise them.

In 1990, then home minister P Chidambaram changed the criteria for promotion of officers in the CAPFS resulting in mass supersession of officers. Many officers were ultimately forced to go in appeal to the Supreme Court where the matter was dismissed on grounds of delay. In a case of biased promotion policy, the Armed Forces Tribunal in Chandigarh recently directed the defence ministry, to review its “two stream” promotion orders before October 2017. Had there been such tribunals for our paramilitary forces, many superseded officers would have been saved the ignominy of supersession and having to serve under junior officers .

Immediate redressal of grievances is an important factor for man-management in the armed forces to keep up their morale. Frustrated and demoralised personnel can do more harm than good.

It would be in the fitness of things to establish tribunals exclusively for the paramilitary forces for quick redressal of grievances. Since cadre officers of these forces are better placed to address their grievances, they should be appointed to these tribunals and not the IPS officers who serve for short durations.