‘Can’t bar promotion of army officers in DGQA’
Delhi HC strikes down 2010 office memorandum that bars army men from being considered for promotion beyond the rank of colonel
NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) cannot bar the promotion of Indian Army officers who join it over personnel drawn from other armed forces, the Delhi high court has ruled.
Acting on a bunch of petitions filed by former Army officers, who were inducted into the DGQA, the court struck down a 2010 office memorandum (OM) that barred them from being considered for promotion beyond the rank of colonel.
The DGQA provides quality assurance for an entire range of arms, ammunition, equipment and stores supplied to armed forces. Induction to the DGQA is from among personnel drawn from different armed forces — Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force — as well as other technical personnel who are or were not necessarily members of any armed force.
The officers, once permanently seconded into the DGQA, continue in the organisation till their retirement and are included in the cadre Seniority list of Permanently Seconded Service Officers.
In April 2010, the memo issued by the government barred promotion of permanently superseded officers of the Indian Army inducted into the DGQA on permanent secondment. However, another order issued in May 2011 altered the scheme and did away with the bar on promotion for army officers inducted in the DGQA with prospective effect.
The officers, who were permanently seconded in DGQA before May 2011, contended that the 2010 OM resulted in the preparation of gradation lists where they were shown as ineligible for promotion while others are judged or considered for promotion on the basis of their contemporaneous performance and record in the DGQA.
“The DGQA has not applied a uniform rule of ‘no promotion’ to those finally superseded in the Indian Army,” the court said.
“The impugned condition in the OM of April 23, 2010, that finally superseded officers seconded permanently from the Indian Army, cannot be considered for promotion beyond a particular rank, smacks of discrimination,” it pleaded. “After permanent secondment, officers from different forces do not return, except when asked under emergencies; therefore, their performance is to be seen on the basis of the discharge of duties in the DGQA,” the court said. Questioning the rationale behind the OM, the high court said, “It bears no rational nexus with the interest in promoting the best officers.”
It directed the government to set up a review quality assurance assessment board for officers who approached the court to consider their cases for promotion with effect from the dates they would otherwise have been eligible for consideration for promotion(s) to higher posts or grades. It spelt out a three-month deadline to complete this process.