Different members had been swayed and awarded low VJ marks to the Brigadier, thus placing him out of competition. (Representational)
The indiscriminate method by which Worth Judgement (VJ) marks are awarded in Military promotions has as soon as once more come to gentle, with an Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) judgement revealing {that a} Brigadier virtually misplaced out on promotion to the rank of Main Common after a variety board awarded him low VJ marks over allegations of home violence and extramarital affairs, which had been later discovered to be false.
A most of 5 marks out of 100 are allotted for VJ within the choice board for promotions within the Military, whereas the remaining 95 are quantified via different parameters like programs attended and so forth. Amidst powerful competitors, it’s typically VJ marks which grow to be the deciding issue.
The choice board in query was evaluating 24 Brigadiers for six vacancies within the rank of Main Common within the Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (EME) corps in 2018. The board comprised the then Chief of Military Employees Bipin Rawat as chairman and Vice Chief of Military Employees and all Common Officers Commanding-in-Chief as members.
Throughout the course of debate over every candidate, one board member talked about the allegations of home violence and extra-marital affairs in opposition to a Brigadier by his spouse.
The opposite members had been swayed and awarded low VJ marks to the Brigadier, thus placing him out of competition. The transfer benefitted one other Brigadier, who moved up one place and was therefore beneficial for promotion.
When the proceedings of the choice board had been put as much as the Ministry of Defence (MoD), this anomaly was observed by officers. The ministry requested the Military headquarters to supply proof of the allegations made in opposition to the officer and any motion taken in opposition to him.
It was then revealed that no Courtroom of Inquiry has been held in opposition to the Brigadier and {that a} pseudonymous grievance had been made in opposition to him with no proof. It additional got here to gentle that the spouse of the officer had additionally given a written assertion that she had by no means filed a grievance in opposition to him. The MoD got here to the conclusion that the pseudonymous grievance was made to negatively have an effect on the possibilities of promotion of the officer by deceptive the choice board. Consequently, regardless of the choice board not altering its suggestion, the MoD modified the results of the board — the Brigadier was accepted for promotion and the officer who had jumped up one place was not accepted.
All the sequence of occasions got here to gentle when the officer who missed out on promotion resulting from MoD altering the results of the choice board moved the AFT, demanding that he be promoted. The AFT’s principal bench in New Delhi upheld the choice of the MoD and dismissed the officer’s petition earlier this month.
In a judgment in February, the Supreme Courtroom had dominated that an officer can’t be neglected for empanelment for greater rank solely on the premise of the VJ marks. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta on February 11 ordered a recent promotion choice board to be held for 2 retired Brigadiers for the rank of Main Common. The bench had disagreed with authorities counsel’s competition that deference must be proven to the choice board’s choice because it comprised senior Military officers.
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