Armed Forces Tribunal sets aside Army order
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The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has "condemned" an order delivered by the Northern command for interfering with a high court judgement in a divorce case.
"The order dated 03.03.2010 is a contemptuous order and has to be condemned. The Army can't resort to illegalities to bypass the order of the civil courts or over-riding the order passed by the high court of Allahabad," the tribunal's principal bench headed by justice A.K. Mathur said in a recent judgement setting aside the Army order.
The tribunal held that once a high court order is passed, the Army can't undo it by its "so-called order".
The tribunal was disposing of a petition by one Lt Col Naveen Ahlawat against the Northern command order to revise the maintenance amount to Rs 25,000 from Rs 3,000 to his wife, whom he had divorced.
It held that civil court decrees or order cannot be undone by administrative authorities and it is only a competent higher court, which can do so.
"The order passed by the Army without jurisdiction and nullity in view of the order passed by the Allahabad high Court on 31.03.2009 and we set aside the impugned order dated 03.03.2010 and award a sum of Rs 20,000 to the petitioner and responsibility may be fixed on the persons who have passed such impertinent order and the amount may be deducted from their salary," the Tribunal said.
Reacting to the order, the Army headquarters said no individual was named in the judgement. The Army is working on the matter and responsibility would be fixed in due course, they said.
Earlier reports had said that the tribunal was critical of the then Northern Army commander Lt Gen B.S. Jaswal and that Rs 20,000 should be deducted from his pension.
The respondents in the case before the tribunal included defence secretary, Chief of Army Staff and the GOC-in-C, Northern command.
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