The Supreme Court has upheld the court martial of an Army major for gross financial irregularities while dismissing his plea for quashing of his conviction by general court martial in the Jammu and Kashmir area.
The GCM though had awarded five years’ rigorous imprisonment to Major Chandra Kumar Chopra, the competent authority of GCM while confirming his conviction, had reduced the sentence to six months’ imprisonment. The Jammu and Kashmir high court also had upheld the verdict of the Competent Authority and rejected his first appeal in the civilian court.
An top court bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and Dipak Misra dismissed his special leave petition, saying there was no scope of any leniency under the Army Act for any act of indiscipline by “the soldiers in the uniform.”
“The primary obligation of a member of armed forces is to maintain discipline in all aspects. Discipline in fiscal matters has to be given top priority as that mirrors the image of any institution,” the top court observed while rejecting his appeal.
Since the appellant had risen to the rank of a major, carrying a lot of responsibilities, but the proven charges against him “luminously project” that he had given a total go-by to the Army’s basic motto — discipline. “In this backdrop, it is well nigh impossible to hold that the punishment was harsh or arbitrary. Regard being had to the nature of rank held by the appellant and the disciplined conduct expected of him, we find that the doctrine of proportionality of punishment is uninvocable,” the top court judges held.