Army Colonel knocks Delhi High Court against posting order

New Delhi: A serving Colonel of the Indian Army has approached the Delhi High Court challenging his posting order, stating that it is in violation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) followed by the Indian Army, and even the basic criteria of spouse posting were not taken into consideration.

The plea filed by Colonel Amit Kumar said that vide the posting order dated May 15, 2020, not only the posting order of the petitioner and his wife was taken out four months in advance, but there was also a complete violation of the SOP followed by the Indian Army since time immemorial, i.e., while issuing the posting order for officers of the rank of Colonel and above, the order of preference submitted by the concerned officer ought to be considered before issuing the posting order, but in the present case, no such recommendation was sought from him.

"The posting order dated May 15, 2020, was so arbitrary in nature that even the basic criteria of spouse posting, especially in the case where both husband and wife happen to be serving officers, was not taken into consideration, which is an incomplete breach of the norms followed in all the three wings of Defence," the plea said.

The petitioner further said that aggrieved by the disregard of SOP in the release of the posting order and with trepidations of foul play and bias, Colonel Amit Kumar wrote a demi official letter dated June 8, 2020, to the Colonel Military Services, informing the concerned officer regarding his apprehensions about the injustice in planning and deviation from the laid down policy regarding posting of senior officers.