A.K. Sikri, J. - (1.) The respondent herein was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps on 3rd March, 1980. By ascending the career ladder, he has reached the position of Lieutenant General (hereinafter referred to as Lt. General), which he occupies at present, though it is a different matter that he had to struggle a lot for claiming his rightful promotion to the rank of Lt. General from that of Major General. Brief factual narration concerning his promotion from Major General to the rank of Lt. General shall be stated at the relevant stage. He is now aspiring to hold the position of Director General Medical Services (Army) [hereinafter referred to as 'DGMS (Army)] which has been denied to him by the appellants. Feeling aggrieved, the respondent had approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (for short, 'AFT'), Principal Bench, New Delhi by means of O.A. No. 372 of 2018 which has been allowed by the AFT vide its judgment dated 7th May, 2018. Direction was issued to the appellants to post the respondent as DGMS (Army) "as expeditiously as possible and certainly not later than one month from today and for that purpose take all necessary consequential steps". The appellants have taken exception to the outcome, as they feel that the matter has not been examined in correct legal perspective. This has led to the filing of the present appeal wherein the validity of the aforesaid judgment dated 7th May, 2018 of the AFT is called in question.
(2.) The cognizable background facts, which require mentioning for the purposes of appreciating the nature of legal controversy and resolution thereof, are recapitulated hereinbelow: ROUND I : THE EARLIER LITIGATION
(3.) As mentioned above, the respondent was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps on 3rd March, 1980. He kept on getting promotions from time to time and attained the rank of Major General on 14th November, 2013.;