The Supreme Court on Tuesday sent alarm bells ringing in the Army headquarters as it threatened to launch disciplinary proceedings against top-ranking Army officers held guilty of trading their licensed weapons in the open market.
Terming the conduct of the officials, who have been held guilty by a Court Martial, to be “highly improper”, the apex court said that the Army cannot be expected to commit such acts which strike at the very root of institutional propriety. “It is something like you buy from Essential Commodities shop and sell it for a price outside,” observed the bench headed by Justice Hl Dattu.
“This is something so serious that has never happened. High Army officials holding superior ranks literally do business by purchasing weapons from Army Ordnance Depot and sell it for profit in the open market. They accept their guilt before the Court Martial proceedings and yet are let off on a fine of Rs500… Why should we not initiate departmental proceedings for this misconduct,” said the bench, also comprising Justices SA Bobde and Abhay Sapre.
The Army was defended by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who said that the Court Martial held these officers guilty and punishing them further and that too, on a PIl, amounted to retrial which violates Article 20 of Constitution as a person cannot be prosecuted twice for the same offence. Since the comment by the court came on a PIl by advocate Arvind Kumar Sharma, AG said that these officers were permitted to sell their weapons but here the officers were guilty of not obtaining permission under the Army Act before doing so.
Going by this standard, the bench wondered if it was fair on the part of Army officers to purchase goods from the army canteen at subsidized price and sell it for profit in the open market. “Here are Army officers, a highly respected lot who deal in purchase and sale of licensed weapons which they obtain by virtue of their post in Army,” the bench remarked.
On one hand, the bench exclaimed how an ordinary citizen gets punished with three months in jail for stealing Rs10 and here, officers escape by paying fine. “To meet ends of justice we may ask General Court Martial to think in these lines.”