Rs 4 crore compensation to officer court-martialled 26 years ago

LUCKNOW: In a landmark judgment,

Armed Forces Tribunal

(AFT) has ordered the defence ministry to pay Rs 4 crore compensation to an officer who was

court-martialled 26 years ago

.

While reinstating the service of second lieutenant SS Chauhan, the AFT also asked the army to deposit Rs 1 crore with the

Army Central Welfare Fund

within a period of four months.

Chauhan, of the Sixth Rajput Battalion, was posted in Srinagar when he was courtmartialled after being declared a deserter and mentally unstable.

Quashing the court-martial of Chauhan, Justice DP Singh and Air Marshal Anil Chopra asked the defence ministry to reinstate the of ficer and provide him promotional avenues up to the stage of lieutenant colonel for the purpose of arrears of salary, pension benefits and rank.

“Keeping in view... mental pain, agony and humiliation suffered by the petitioner, it is a fit case where the petitioner should be awar ded exemplary compensatory cost,“ the bench observed.

Chauhan, who hails from UP's Mainpuri district, was court-martialled on November 4, 1991, and the order was approved by the then General Officer Commanding-inChief, Srinagar. The officer reportedly landed in trouble when he recovered 147 gold biscuits weighing around 27.5kg during a search operation in Srinagar on April 11, 1990.

In his petition, Chauhan pointed out that the gold biscuits were recovered from a house in the presence of other soldiers and were handed over to his seniors.

During the trial, the tribunal observed that Chauhan's senior officers implicated him in false cases to ensure that the recovery of gold could be concealed from the government.

Justice Singh and Air Marshal Chopra directed the chief of the army staff to look into the matter.


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