Row over Army Aviation top job

The appointment to the top job in Army Aviation, that of the Director General Army Aviation has been put on hold following a challenge to the appointment of a new DG raised in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

The incumbent Additional Director General (ADG) of Army Aviation, Major General P. K. Bhairali, has challenged the appointment of a Lieutenant General as the director general, following which the top seat in the directorate continues to remain vacant.

The Principal Bench of the AFT in New Delhi has ordered the Special Promotion Board for the post of Director General, Army Aviation Corps to be held in abeyance ’till next date of hearing and subject to the objections of other side’.

The petitioner, General Bhairali, has contended that ‘one post of Lt. Gen. was created in Aviation Corps in the year 2008 and sanction was accorded by the Government in 2010.

Special Selection Board was to be held on 26.02.2013 for making appointment to the rank of Lt. Gen. in which the name of the petitioner, who belongs to Army Aviation Corps, was clearly reflected. Since no decision was taken in that Board, therefore, another Special Selection Board is scheduled to be held in April 2014 in which the name of the petitioner is not reflected and the post is to be filled up from the general cadre, thereby denying the petitioner’s right of consideration, even though he is the senior most Major General as on today.’

The Tribunal has acknowledged a Supreme Court judgment saying it ‘has clearly held that after creating a permanent cadre and specifying the post of Major General in the Army Aviation Corps, the persons cannot be brought out from other Corps’.

The army had proposed the appointment of a Lieutenant General-ranked officer as DG, who has been unable to take over after this challenge.

The AFT will hear the matter again, next week.