Date:14/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/14/stories/2008111462031300.htm

National

JCO cannot be discharged without board opinion: court

J. Venkatesan

Rule for discharge on medical grounds must be followed

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has held that a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Army cannot be discharged from service on medical grounds without obtaining an opinion from the Invalidating Board.

“If a JCO is to be discharged on the ground of his being ‘medically unfit for further service’ irrespective of whether he is or was in a low medical category, the order of discharge can be made only on the recommendation of an Invalidating Board,” said a Bench consisting of Justices C.K. Thakker (since retired) and D.K. Jain.

Writing the judgment, Mr. Justice Jain said: “It is a well-settled rule of administrative law that an executive authority must be rigorously held to the standards by which it professes its actions to be judged and it must scrupulously observe those standards on pain of invalidation of an act in violation of them.”

Adhere to procedure

The Bench said, “Where a JCO is sought to be discharged on the ground of medical unfitness, his case has to be dealt with strictly in accordance with the procedure contemplated in Clause I (ii) in Column 2 of the Table appended to Rule 13. The rule prescribes a particular procedure for discharge of a JCO on account of medical unfitness, which must be followed and, therefore, any order of discharge passed without subjecting him to the Invalidating Board would fall foul of the statutory rule.”

In the instant case, Rajpal Singh, a JCO, was enrolled in the Army in March 1980. During July 2000, he fell ill and was subsequently placed in the low medical category for six months and later for two years. But before the expiry of the two-year period, he was discharged without obtaining an opinion from the board.

Acting on a writ petition, the Delhi High Court quashed the discharge order. Dismissing the Centre’s appeal against this judgment, the Supreme Court said that since the main ground of discharge was medical unfitness for further service, the appellants were bound to follow the prescribed rule.

The Bench said: “It is evident from the order of discharge that [the] respondent has been discharged on account of his having been placed in a low medical category [permanent] by the Re-categorisation Board. We wholly agree with the reasoning and the conclusion of the High Court that the discharge of the respondent was not in accordance with the prescribed procedure and was, therefore, illegal.”