Delhi HC sets aside sacking of flight cadet

The Delhi High Court on Thursday came to the rescue of a Flight cadet, whose training at the Air Force Academy was terminated last year over allegations of theft of Hand-Held Monitors (HHMs) belonging to fellow cadets. The Bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla found the punishment to be disproportionate and irrational, while allowing the cadet’s plea challenging his termination.

The Court observed that the petitioner throughout had a spotless record but was mentally disturbed and struggling to adjust to the training environment at the relevant time. “That situation is completely incongruous with a dishonest, and cheating mindset and completely consistent with a clear error of judgment in his actions. Hence, we find that a young trainee/cadet experiencing short term psychiatric issues or at best, whose act can be termed as negligent and/or ignorant, cannot be treated as a thief or person unworthy of being an officer,” said the Judges.  The Bench said that even if it were assumed that the theft had actually taken place, it appeared to be an “isolated and one-off incident, under the influence of undergoing psychological distress at that time and at best, it may be termed to be as negligence and/or an ignorant act by the petitioner or situation where he had difficulty in choosing his course of conduct.”

“Moreover, given his young age between 19 and 21 years, it cannot reasonably be concluded that he is now beyond reform. There is nothing on record except the alleged stray incident to concur that the petitioner is unworthy of becoming that an isolated, one-off incident of theft by a cadet going through mental health problems cannot render him unworthy of being an officer in the Air Force an officer. Therefore, we find that it would be unfair to categorise him as a person without officer-like qualities,” the Court further said.

The petitioner-cadet had completed his training from the National Defence Academy in 2019 and then joined the Air Force Academy in 2023 as a logistics trainee. He was dismissed in June 2024 over allegations of theft.