Unfair court martial, Major reinstated after 8 years

Vijay Mohan. Over eight years after an Army Major was sentenced by a court martial to undergo three years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of frequently procuring government land to build a war memorial to his brother, the officer has been absolved of all charges and reinstated in service with full consequential benefits.

A general court martial (GCM) had in 2005 tried Major Ran Singh Dudee on four counts of intent to defraud and acts prejudicial to good order and military discipline, and cashiered from service besides awarding him three years of rigorous imprisonment. The officer was reinstated in service this week.

Holding the findings of the GCM “unacceptable” and “warranting interference by the Central Government”, an order passed by the Ministry of Defence has annulled the GCM proceedings and quashed the penalty imposed on grounds of their being “illegal and unjust”.

The order, while holding the trial to be time-barred, also observed that there was no wrongful gain to the officer nor any conclusive evidence of collusion to get land allotted.

Major Dudee had approached the District Collector at Saugor in Madhya Pradesh in 2000 for allotment of 8.64 hectares of government land for building a building a war memorial to his brother, Sepoy Hawa Singh of 9 Jat, who had died in the 1971 Indo-Pak War.

Land was allotted by the civil administration after following due procedure and 9 Jat, then based near Saugor, was made the owner and title holder of the land, according to the District Collector’s testimony. The Commanding Officer (CO) of 9 Jat had authorised Major Dudee to collect all necessary documents and take necessary decisions.

In 2001, Major Dudee wrote to the District Collector stating that since the battalion was moving out shortly, the land be handed back to the government for setting up an “immortalisation trust”. The District Collector again certified that the land was given back and no allotment stood in the name of the applicant.

In 2002, the CO wrote to the District Collector seeking cancellation of the allotment, stating that building a war memorial was never intended. This was followed by several anonymous complaints against Major Dudee. A court of inquiry and a separate investigation by a magistrate found the complaints to be baseless and infructuous. This was followed by a second court of inquiry, based upon the findings of which disciplinary action was initiated.

via The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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