- (1.) THE present Civil Appeal is directed against the judgment and order dt.04-01-1996 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur in Misc. Petition No.2611 of 1992.
(2.) WE have heard Mr. A. Sharan, learned ASG appearing on behalf of the appellants. The first respondent died during the pendency of this appeal in this Court. Though his LRs. were impleaded vide Courts Order dt.20-04-2006 in I.A.No.2, there is no response on their behalf. Notice has also been served on respondent Nos.1(i), 1(ii), 2 and 3. In spite of service, none appears for the said respondents. The respondents were found guilty by the Officer Commanding, Troops, C.O.D., Jabalpur by order dt. 18-04-1992. They were sentenced to undergo RI for one year and dismissal from service. This was in respect of respondent No.1. Respondent Nos.2 and 3 were sentenced to undergo RI for six months each and also suffered dismissal from service. All the three respondents approached the High Court on 05-08-1992 by way of Writ Petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India being Miscellaneous Petition No.2611 of 1992 with a grievance that the appellant had not decided the appeal till the date of filing of the Writ Petition. However, during the pendency of the Writ Petition, the appeal filed by the respondents was rejected by the appellant No.l herein. The appellants challenged the legality and validity of the proceedings of the Summary Court Martial and award of the punishment by the Summary Court Martial on various grounds. The appellants contested the said Writ Petition by filing a detailed affidavit.
(3.) THE High Court vide its judgment dt.04-01-1996 allowed the Writ Petition on the sole ground of non-observance of Army Rule 180 and accordingly set aside the entire proceedings of Summary Court Martial including charge sheet dt.09-04-1992 and also set aside the punishment awarded to the respondents therein with a further direction that they will be entitled to be reinstated in the services. Being aggrieved by the above judgment, the appellant has preferred the present appeal in this Court. We have perused the judgment passed by the High Court and also the grounds of SLP and the other annexures filed along with the Writ Petition and in this appeal. We have also heard the learned ASG appearing on behalf of the appellants herein. Since the High Court has disposed of the Writ Petition on the ground that Army Rule 180 has not been strictly observed, we directed the learned ASG to place before us the entire original records of the inquiry and other allied proceedings in order to satisfy ourselves as to whether Army Rule 180 has been adhered to or not. The entire records have been placed before us and we have perused the same. A perusal of the entire records would clearly show that the Court of Inquiry has strictly observed and complied with the Army Rule 180. The finding of the High Court, therefore, that Army Rule 180 has not been observed is factually not correct and we, therefore, have no option but to set aside the judgment of the High Court and affirm the order passed by the Officer Commanding, Troops, C.O.D., Jabalpur.;