S.C.AGRAWAL - (1.) THE question which falls for consideration in these appeals is whether an order for discharge from the Indian Air Force in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Policy for Discharge of Habitual Offenders under R. 15(2) (g) (ii) of the Air Force Rules, 1969, as prescribed in the Policy Directive dt. Aug 14, 1984, (hereinafter referred to as the Policy for Discharge) amounts to removal by way of punishment falling under R. 18 of the Air Force Rules, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules).
(2.) THE Air Force Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as `the Act'), in Chapter IV, makes provisions for conditions of service of every person subject to the Act. Section 18 prescribes that every person subject to the Act shall hold Office during the pleasure of the President. Section 19 empowers the Central Government to dismiss or remove from service any person subject to the Act. THE said power is subject to the provisions of the Act and the rules and regulations made thereunder. Section 20 deals with the power of the Chief of the Air Staff and other Officers in the matter of dismissal, removal or reduction of persons subject to the Act. Section 22 lays down that any person subject to the Act may be retired, released or discharged from the service by such authority and in such manner as may be prescribed. Sub-section (1) of S. 169 confers on the Central Government the power to make rules for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the Act. Clause (a) of Sub-sec (2) of S. 189 authorises the making of rules to provide for the removal, retirement, release or discharge from the service of persons subject to the Act. In exercise of the power conferred by S. 189 the Central Government has framed the Rules. Rule 15 specifies the authorities who are competent to authorise discharge from service of persons subject to the Act for the specified causes and also the manner in which the said power is to be exercised. Rule 15 reads as under. "15. Authorities empowered to authorise discharge,- (1) Each of the authorities specified in column 3 of the Table below shall be the authority competent in respect of persons subject to the Act specified in column 1 thereof for the cause specified in column 2 and in the manner specified in column 4, to discharge such persons from the service. (2) Any power conferred by this rule on any of the aforesaid authorities may also be exercised by any other authority superior to it. TABLE JUDGEMENT_65_3_1996Html1.htm Rule 16 deals with dismissal or removal of officers for misconduct and prescribes the procedure to be followed in that regard. Rule 17 deals with removal from service of Officer on grounds that he is unfit to be retained in service due to inefficiency, physical disability or other ground other than misconduct. Rule 18 deals with dismissal or removal of a person subject to the Act other than an Officer. A project study on absence without leave (AWL) of airmen covering the period 1978 to 1983 made by the Institute of Defence Management brought out the following salient features regarding the existence of habitual offenders among airmens :; "(a) There is a specific hard core group of airmen in the Air Force (about 1288 in number from all trades) who have been contributing regularly and predominantly to the annual offence statistics in the AIR Force year after year. Further breakdown of the group based in the number of punishments and the corresponding number of airmen in each of these sub-groups is as under:- JUDGEMENT_65_3_1996Html2.htm (b) This group of airmen has not been repeating AWL offences, but also other offences and (c) This group of airmen have been a strong source of adverse influence on the general discipline of other airmen in the service. Adverse Effects: 3. The main adverse effects flowing out of the 3. The main adverse effects flowing out of the repetitive indiscipline perpetrated by this group of habitual offenders were: (a) Serious adverse effect on the general morale and discipline, especially on the young airmen joining various Units from the training centres. (b) Unit level administration is kept preoccupied with these chronic indiscipline cases impinging on time which is otherwise required for constructive activity. (c) Very often, at some stage or the other, airmen from this group are found to commit serious offences not only within but also outside the Air Force, thereby tarnishing the image of the service. (d) Invariably many of these airmen are not performing well in their trades also. Hence their overall contribution to the service is negligible. (e) Some of the airmen of this group have been promoted and have attained the ranks of SNCOs (sgts. and above). Such SNCOs are a very poor example to others particularly the younger airmen."
(3.) HAVING regard to the existence of habitual offenders among the airmen and the adverse effects of their repetitive indiscipline of habitual offenders among the airmen on the general discipline and administration of the Indian Air Force, the Air Headquarters decided to lay down the policy for discharge prescribing the guidelines to deal firmly with such habitual offenders. In paragraph 4 of the said policy it was prescribed. "Airmen who meet any one of the following individual criteria are to be treated as habitual offenders and considered for discharge under rules 15(2)(g)(ii) of Air Force Rules, 1969 :- (a) Total number of punishment entries six and above (including red and black ink entries) :- (b) Four red ink punishment entries: (c) Four punishment entries (red and black ink entries included) for repeated commission of any one specific type of offence such as disobedience, insubordination, AWL, breaking out of camp, offences involving alcohol, mess indiscipline, use of abusive/threatening language, etc." The detailed actions and procedures which are required to be followed to implement the policy for discharge are given in the Appendix to the policy (hereinafter referred to as the procedure for discharge). By Paragraph 3 of the procedure for discharge habitual offenders who may not be found suitable for retention in service are initially placed in two categories, viz., (a) habitual offenders who have already crossed the criteria as laid down vide paragraph 4(a), (b) and (c) of the policy guidelines, and (b) offenders who are on the threshold. Under paragraph 7 Units/Stations are required to order Boards of officers to scrutinize the service documents (conduct sheets) of all airmen with a view to identify and list out the habitual offenders and potential habitual offenders as per the criteria laid down in paragraph 4(a), (b) and (c) of the policy guidelines. Copies of the proceedings of the Board of Officers are required to be forwarded to the Command Head Quarters and Air Force Records. Under paragraph 9 airmen of both categories are to be warned in writing by the commanding Officer personally about the implication of their persisting in acts of indiscipline and they are to be informed that firstly, they are getting another opportunity to mend themselves and an addition of another punishment entry (either red or black) in their record will result in their discharge. Under paragraph II conduct sheet of the airmen is required to be reviewed by the Adjutant of the unit concerned every time an airman put on charge is found guilty and punished to ascertain whether the offender falls in any of the categories and, if so, to initiate appropriate action where necessary. Under paragraph 13 it is required that whenever an airman of the above two categories is awarded another punishment, his case is to be immediately reported by the Unit to the Command concerned. In paragraph 14 it is provided that all cases of the two categories, i.e. those who have already crossed the criteria laid down for qualifying as habitual offenders and those on the threshold of doing the same, reported to Command Headquarters either by the initial Board of Officers or individually, are to be monitored by the Command Headquarters and in receipt of intimation regarding award of another punishment in such cases the Command Heard quarters are to issue show cause notice to the individual. By paragraph 15 it is required that all cases of airmen who have been served with show cause notices are to be individually forwarded with all the relevant replies/detail/documents/ recommendations to Directorates of PS and PA at AIR Headquarters at the earliest. Paragraph 16 makes provision for scrutinising of the cases by the Directorate of PS and for forwarding the same to the Directorate of PA with their recommendations. Under paragraph 17, the Directorate of PA has to submit the cases to Air Officer in charge Personnel for his approval and then to intimate follow up action with Air Force Records Officer.;