Government defends preferential promotion policy of combat units for Army

NEW DELHI: The governemnt on Wednesday vehemently defended in the Supreme Court its 2009 policy which gives the army’s fighting units preference in promotions to ensure a younger force, but officers from non-combat units dubbed it "discriminatory" and "unfair".

The practice was first implemented by the then Chief of Army in 2004. Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told a bench comprising Justices TS Thakur and R Banumathi that the then army chief had in his wisdom as the "father" of the army as an organisation chosen to restrict the promotions to the fighting units over the non-fighting units.

This was later vetted by the government, he said. Officers from the non-combat units, through their counsel Meenakshi Lekhi, contested the policy as discriminatory.

"He is referring the army chief as the father of the organisation. We think he acted like a step-father," she contended. She also accused the government of selectively "tweaking" a report on the matter to favour combat units in promotion.

Some 1,484 colonel posts had been created in 2004 and 2008. The first tranche of 750 was distributed on a pro-rata basis among all the forces. But the second was restricted to the combat units. The Armed Forces Tribunal ruled that the next lot should be implemented on a pro-rata basis.