Armed Forces Tribunal’s summonses to Army chief, defence secretary reflect concern over compliance delays
Law ministry officials say that while the Government is striving to reduce litigation initiated by its departments, the defence ministry’s service-related legal battles have reached unprecedented levels.
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As far back as in 2014, an AFT bench in New Delhi issued similar orders summoning the then defence secretary. (File)The recent summonses issued by the Armed Forces Tribunal’s (AFT) principal bench in New Delhi to the Army chief and the defence secretary for failing to implement its orders mark yet another instance of such action by tribunal, which has summoned the defence secretary and other officials several times over the past decade.
The latest order, issued on October 7, requires both the defence secretary and the Army chief to appear before the tribunal in connection with a case involving an Army jawan from the Defence Security Corps, where the tribunal’s verdict has not been implemented despite clear directives.
An advocate dealing with military litigation, who requested anonymity, said the tribunal’s previous actions had achieved nothing.
“Not only have more than 6,000 AFT decisions not been implemented by the defence ministry, but the ministry has unleashed a tsunami of litigation against its own old pensioners, disabled soldiers, and widows in the high courts across the country and the Supreme Court, which is against its own litigation policy. This is despite the ministry facing multiple strictures from courts nationwide for its unsympathetic approach,” the advocate said.
Mounting military litigation
In 2014, following the dismissal of approximately 900 appeals filed by the ministry against disability pensions by the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed then defence minister Manohar Parrikar to address excessive litigation. Parrikar implemented measures that significantly reduced litigation in disability and other pension-related matters. Later, just before the 2019 elections, then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman withdrew all remaining litigation initiated by the ministry against disabled soldiers and pensioners.
However, in 2023, after the AFT took coercive action against senior officers of the Defence Accounts Department for non-compliance, the ministry opted to challenge thousands of the tribunal’s verdicts favourable to defence personnel.
Sources within Army headquarters, speaking on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the Army’s adjutant general’s branch had strongly opposed the filing of extensive litigation against veterans. Even the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare within the ministry expressed disapproval. Nevertheless, officers from the Army’s Judge Advocate General Department and the Defence Accounts Department managed to secure legal advice to pursue such litigation, circumventing the Government’s litigation policy and congesting the courts.
Officials from the law ministry also noted that while the Government is striving to reduce litigation initiated by its departments, the defence ministry’s service-related legal battles have reached unprecedented levels. A new national litigation policy applicable to all ministries is expected soon. Law ministry officials pointed out that while other ministries, such as the finance ministry, refrain from approaching the high courts and the Supreme Court for amounts below Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, respectively, the defence ministry files cases for sums as low as a few thousand rupees.
Letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
Last month, the All India Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association, led by Bhim Sen Sehgal, sent a strongly worded letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, asking whether the “hurt ego” of ministry officers was “more valuable” than the sentiments of the military community. Sehgal also highlighted the negative impact of stress and strain from military service on the health of troops, urging the minister to be sensitive to the realities faced by defence personnel.
As far back as in 2014, an AFT bench in New Delhi issued similar orders summoning the then defence secretary. The bench then noted a “total defiance” by the ministry in failing to implement an order upheld by the apex court.
“In a situation like this where respondents are brazenly defying the order of the court, as custodians of the rights of people, we have to enforce the decision of the court,” the bench stated in 2014.
More recently, in April 2024, peeved by the non-implementation of an AFT order to reinstate a woman lieutenant colonel, the chairperson of the principal bench summoned the defence secretary on May 8. The AFT ordered the reinstatement of the lieutenant colonel in April 2023, but the ministry challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal in September 2023. Despite this, the ministry failed to implement the tribunal’s order.
In the current case involving the Army chief and defence secretary, the AFT bench remarked, “We find that the respondents in more than 6,500 cases pending before the Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, and 10 other Regional Benches are not implementing the orders passed by this Tribunal. Despite repeated opportunities, neither the orders are being implemented nor any writ petition or SLP filed before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court or Hon’ble Supreme Court within time, nor any stay obtained on the orders passed by the AFT.
“It may also be noticed that in cases where writ petition has been filed and notice issued without granting any stay, this Tribunal has taken a liberal attitude and granted time to the respondents till the dismissal of the said appeal/petition. In spite of time being granted and the liberal process followed, the respondents are sleeping over the matter, are not implementing the orders of this Tribunal and therefore it is high time that we take stringent action in these matters.”
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