Naval officers should shed their ego !

Supreme Court reprimands naval officers

New Delhi – The Supreme Court on Tuesday said “enough is enough” as it rapped the Navy for not granting permanent commission to a 2007 batch Short Service Commission officer despite its direction and asked the authority to “shed its egos”. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked the authorities to consider the case of 2007 batch Judge Advocate Generals (JAG or legal) branch officer Seema Chaudhary within a week and grant her permanent commission.

“Enough is enough. Please mend your ways. We will give you one week to take her in for the permanent commission. Does the authority concerned think they can sit over the orders of the court ? What kind of disciplined force are you ?” the bench told senior advocate R Balasubramanian, appearing for the Naval authorities and the Centre.

The bench, which perused the minutes of the selection board and the annual confidential reports of the officer, asked why was she not taken in the permanent commission when the authorities claimed she had attained all benchmarks.

What is the matter ?

Seema Chaudhary was appointed as an ‘SSC officer’ in the Judge Advocate General branch of the Indian Navy on 6^thAugust 2007. She was promoted to Lieutenant in 2009 and Lieutenant Commander in 2012. She was given 2-year service extensions in 2016 and 2018. On 5^thAugust 2020, she was informed that her service would end from 5^thAugust 2021. Seema had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against this order.