Should the army be blamed if an officer’s wife is unhappy with his service and wants him to leave it in case he wants to have children?
Delhi high court upholds army’s decision not to relieve major to fulfill his wife’s demand to leave force if he wants childrenNEW DELHI; Should the army be blamed if an officer’s wife is unhappy with his service and wants him to leave it in case he wants to have children?
The Delhi high court’s answer to this is in the negative. The court says, “The army can hardly be blamed for the refusal of the wife of the petitioner (a major) to go in for family till he is with the army.”
The major tried his best to quit the army to fulfill the demand of his new marriage. He put in his papers citing the demand but could impress neither the army nor the high court.
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Mool Chand Sharma said the major’s resignation could not be accepted by the armed forces that “need his services”. However, the defence ministry could consider it later when it is able to “make adequate arrangements”.
Notably, the judges are concerned with a number of petitions by armed forces personnel “seeking discharge from service or seeking to resign and the army is unable to accept such cases because of shortage of qualified personnel”.
The judges observed, “We find that suddenly people want to look after their parents or are developing family problems. Alternative opportunities available in the country now seem to be encouraging this trend. The problem, however, remains that the respondents (Union government) cannot discharge them for the reason of inadequate alternative personnel of requisite qualifications.”
Stressing that the army service had a “special position in the country since it looks after the integrity and security of the country”, the judges noted that it was because of its importance that the army was governed by a different nature of service jurisprudence.
Thus, the high court reiterated that an army man keen to leave the service prematurely cannot be relieved of his duties until the receipt of intimation that his application to retire or resign has been accepted.
Personnel wanting to leave the armed forces need not give a prospective date from which they desire retirement or want their resignations to become effective as it may not be administratively convenient for the authorities to take a decision by a desired date.
However, if an applicant desires to retire from a specified date for valid reasons, he may indicate a prospective date in his application to be filed not less than four months before that date.
b_rakesh@dnaindia.net 
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