Allahabad High Court
No.8038434F Sepoy(General Duty) Rohit ... vs U.O.I. Thru. Secretary Defence ... on 9 November, 2020
Author: Chandra Dhari Singh
Bench: Chandra Dhari Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH ?Court No. - 18 Case :- SERVICE SINGLE No. - 19032 of 2020 Petitioner :- No.8038434f Sepoy(General Duty) Rohit Kumar Pandey Respondent :- U.O.I. Thru. Secretary Defence Ministry,New Delhi & Ors. Counsel for Petitioner :- Yatish Gupta,Colonel Ashok Kumar,Rohit Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G. Hon'ble Chandra Dhari Singh,J.
Heard learned Counsel for the petitioner and Sri S.B. Pandey, learned Senior Advocate and Assistant Solicitor General of India assisted by Sri Varun Pandey, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of all the opposite parties.
Petitioner has approached this Court with the following main prayers:
"(i). Issue writ, order or directions in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents not to implement posting order of the petitioner bearing No.59/ 2020 dated 04 July 2020 till finalization of the case of the petitioner pending in the Court of learned Additional District and Sessions Judge/ Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow or till further orders of this Hon'ble Court.
(ii) To direct the respondents not to implement the posting order of the petitioner bearing No.59/ 2020 dated 04 July 2020 (Annexure 5) (be held in abeyance till disposal of the statutory complaint of the petitioner by the addressee i.e. Chief of Army Staff), or till further orders of this Hon'ble Court."
Submission of learned Counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner had joined his services on 03.01.2014 in the Indian Army. On 25.02.2020, the petitioner was arrested in Lucknow by the Special Task Force in relation to a criminal case. The petitioner applied for bail but the same was rejected. Thereafter, the petitioner applied for interim bail which was allowed vide order dated 31.03.2020. In the meantime, the petitioner has been transferred to 1839 Pioneer Unit. The petitioner made a statutory complaint under Section 26 of the Army Act, 1950 on 31.07.2020 to the Chief of Army Staff and the same has been received to the office on 05.08.2020.
It has further been submitted by learned Counsel for the petitioner that as per the provisions of Para 364, such statutory complaint shall be decided within 90 days from the date of complaint/ receipt of the complaint but the complaint of the petitioner is still pending.
Learned Counsel for the petitioner has further submitted that the transfer order has been passed against the provisions of Para 420 (d) of the Defence Service Regulation (Regulations for Army), 1987 which provides that in order to facilitate resumption of duties, the person will be attached to a unit/ formation nearest to the place where the trial court is situated.
At last, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of petitioner without entering into the merits of the case, it has been submitted that interest of justice would be suffice if a direction is issued to the opposite parties to decide his statutory complaint within the time frame fixed by this court.
Per contra, Sri S.B. Pandey, learned Senior Advocate and Assistant Solicitor General of India assisted by Sri Varun Pandey, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the opposite parties has no serious objection, if a direction issued to the authority competent to decide the statutory complaint in accordance with law.
Considering the submissions of learned Counsel for the parties and without entering into the merit of the case as also after considering the provisions of Para 420(d) and period provides for deciding the statutory complaint, the instant writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the authority competent to consider and decide the statutory complaint of the petitioner dated 31.07.2020, in accordance with law, expeditiously preferably within a period of 15 days from the date of production of certified copy or self attested computer generated copy of this order.
The concerned Court/ Authority/ Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad.
Order Date :- 9.11.2020 akverma