- (1.) The petitioner, who is a Veterinary Surgeon and was serving as an Assistant Commandant in Indo Tibetan Border Police Force (for short 'ITBPF') has filed this petition to challenge the proceedings of a General Force Court ('GFC' for short) and the consequential punishment. Though initially the petitioner was sentenced to be removed from service by GFC but this sentence was commuted to loss of seniority for two years at the time of confirmation. This order was passed on a petition filed by the petitioner before confirmation of the finding and sentence which is termed as pre-confirmation petition. In exercise of his rights under the statute, the petitioner had filed a petition after confirmation of the finding and the commuted sentence, which has since been rejected. The petitioner, has, accordingly amended his writ petition to challenge the orders rejecting his petition filed after confirmation, which is known as post-confirmation petition. He has challenged the punishment of forfeiture of two years service imposed on the petitioner which has been confirmed.
(2.) The incident, which has led to this trial, took place at Basic Training Centre (BTC) Bhanu. The petitioner claimed that he had helped his colleague a senior officer holding the rank of Deputy Commandant Medical Officer, who was being forcefully taken to Mental Health Care Centre due to a vindictive attitude of respondent No. 4 i.e. Inspector General ITBPF, Zonal Headquarter ITBPF, Dehradun (Uttaranchal). The petitioner would further aver that his colleague had pointed out some deficiencies in the health related issues concerning the new recruits, which offended respondent No. 4. The petitioner allegedly came to his rescue, who was in the process of being dragged and thrown into ambulance. The petitioner had allegedly spoken to respondent No. 2 to release of his colleague officer, but instead he was charge-sheeted. Thereafter, directions were issued for preparing a record of evidence.
(3.) The petitioner alleges that the superior authorities had one sidedly prejudged the matter to the prejudice and detriment to the petitioner. The petitioner also alleges that without holding any inquiry or without giving any opportunity of hearing to him, he was transferred to the field location, placed under suspension to order his trial by GFC. The petitioner, accordingly, pleads that he was not given proper opportunity to defend himself and was also denied legal assistance. The petitioner, accordingly, was forced to file a writ petition for change of venue to hold the GFC either at Ramgarh or Delhi. Despite that the trial of the petitioner by GFC was commenced. The petitioner would allege that the GFC was held in utter infringement of the provisions of ITBPF Act and Rules rending the award of punishment to be bad on that count.;