The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Army’s controversial ‘command and exit’ promotion policy. The apex court endorsed the Kargil Review Committee’s view that India needed a young force and age profile of command unit personnel should be reduced for better physical alertness and operational preparedness, especially at high altitude and hazardous and hostile topography along the Line of Control.
The committee had noted that in comparison to other countries like Pakistan, China, the UK, Germany and Israel, the Indian Army had a higher age profile which adversely affected their fitness and alertness.
The court, however, asked the Centre to create 141 additional vacancies to the rank of Colonel to promote officers of ‘Combat Support’ streams.
The court partly allowed the appeals of the Ministry of Defence against the March 2015 order of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) which had quashed the Centre’s 2009 ‘command exit promotion’ policy on the ground that it violated Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution. The AFT had quashed the policy on grounds that the officers of Infantry and Artillery were getting undue favour in promotions over officers of ‘Combat Support’ corps.
“There is nothing perverse, unreasonable or unfair about the policy that the age of officers serving in Combat Arms and Combat Arms Support will be lowered by creating additional vacancies on the Command Exit Model. In the absence of any perversity or unfairness in the policy so introduced, we see no reason to allow the argument based on legitimate expectation to unsettle or undo the policy, which is otherwise laudable, and intended to render the Indian Army more efficient and better equipped for combat situations.”