Bhagwat case: HC seeks papers

Additional Solicitor General C S Vaidyanathan opposing the PIL said the dismissal issue was not a matter of public interest litigation and the aggrieved party himself should have approached the court.

The Bench said "high ranking defence officers may not like to come to the court. Their not approaching the court does not mean that public will not like to know the actual position."

At this Vaidyanathan proposed to produce the records in the court so that it could form an opinion whether notice to thegovernment in the case was required or not.

Petitioner Wing Commander (Retd) H M Sethi said Admiral Bhagwat was not given an opportunity to explain his position and was summarily dismissed.

He said even an ordinary defence personnel was given sufficient time to defend himself under the army, navy and air force acts. Sethi said defence forces have an in-built system to deal with such matters and unless the due procedures within the same were exhausted, no personnel in whichever rank could be dismissed in this manner.

Petitioner had sought court’s direction to the government to "divulge reasons, grounds and charges" which led to the sacking of Admiral Bhagwat.

Terming the dismissal order as "arbitrary and illegal", the petitioner requested the court to set specific terms and references to probe the whole gamut of problems faced by the defence service headquarters with the Ministry of Defence.

There was much more than what "meets the eyes" in the controversy about rejection of Vice Admiral HarinderSingh’s case for the post of Deputy Chief of Naval staff and sacking of Admiral Bhagwat, the petitioner contended.

"No restraint has been shown by the government in levelling charges against Bhagwat which include treason and revolt against the political power. But nothing has so far been brought before the public on the same," he said.

"If the reasons/charges leading to sudden and abrupt dismissal of the naval chief were so grave, why he was not subjected to disciplinary proceedings and made to face court martial under the Navy Act," Sethi argued.

"If it was not found expedient to court martial, the sacked chief, as can be made out from the statements of the government in the media, why show cause notice, a mandatory requirement under law, was not issued to him," he said.

Retired naval officers meet President

Several retired naval officers today met President K R Narayanan and suggested integration of the Defence Ministry with the three services in the wake of the "crisis" that followed thesacking of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. “This unfortunate incident has highlighted the imperative need to restructure the existing higher defence organisation particularly regarding the integration of the Ministry of Defence and the service headquarters,” a delegation of the Indian Navy League, an association of retired naval officers, said in a memorandum submitted to Narayanan. The ten-member league delegation, which included Vice Admiral S Prakash, Vice Admiral D S Paintal, Capt C M Vyas and Commander S Verma, said immediate action should be initiated to implement recommendations made by committees from time to time on integration of the ministry with the services. During the 30-minute meeting with the President, it voiced "grave concern" over the recent developments leading to the summary dismissal of the Navy chief.“In our opinion this has damaged the morale of the serving and retired personnel of the defence forces. A strong impression has been created that the office of the Chief of Naval Staff has beendenigrated,” the members of the League comprising about 200 retired officers said.