Services of 2 Army officers, 13 junior ranked personnel terminated on charges of spying for Pak Intelligence in 1980
The decision of the Army to unceremoniously “terminate” the services of two Army officers and 13 other junior ranked personnel on charges of spying for Pakistani Intelligence agencies in a case infamously known as the ‘Samba Spy Scandal’ was upheld by the Supreme Court on Thursday. The Court put an end to the over three-decade-old litigation initiated by the guilty officers in 1980.
The officers had approached the Delhi High Court, which had set aside their termination orders of January 11, 1980 and faulted the court martial proceedings by which two officers were sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment. But the Army later decided to “terminate” them, which did not find favour with the High Court that quashed the termination order.
On Thursday, deciding on the Army’s appeal, the apex court revived the termination order. The Bench of Justices BS Chauhan, J Chelameswar and MY Eqbal found that confessional statements of Captain AK Rana (one among the guilty) and other officers recorded a “strong prima
facie case relating to the involvement of these officers in espionage activities and sharing information with the Pakistani intruders”.
Moreover, the recommendation to terminate was made in the interest of security of the state at the level of Prime Minister. Under Section 18 of the Army Act, since the President has power to terminate the services of any serving officer under “pleasure” doctrine, the bench held that the officers had nothing to show that the decision of the President was malafide or biased. It said, “Detailed investigation was conducted and all evidence recorded were examined by the Intelligence Department and finally the authority came to the finding that retention of these officers were not expedient in the interest and security of the State.” In such a case, the officers could not even claim an opportunity to be heard, the bench added.