Person in forces must be ready for tough life: HC

A person working in armed forces should not crib about hardships that such a career entails, Bombay High Court said recently, dismissing a naval officer's petition for cancellation of transfer.

Refusing to interfere in the case, the division bench of Justices Sharad Bobde and Anoop Mohta said, "A person in the armed forces should know it's a tough life. It is for authorities to decide where the staff has to be posted."

Petitioner Commander N K Tripathi had challenged his transfer from INS Trata in Mumbai to INS Zamorin in Ezhimala in Kerala in December 2007.

Among other things, such as violation of Navy Act, Tripathi had sought cancellation of transfer on 'compassionate grounds' too.

He contended that an officer like him, who was part of the operational command, was allowed a normal tenure of five years at one place, which he had yet to complete in Mumbai.

Besides, he was also involved in crucial work, including the re-powering of 12

Russian petrol Zil vehicles with indigenous diesel ones and fabrication of the mobile command platform at the naval dockyard, he argued.

That apart, he pleaded that his father was a cancer patient in a terminal stage, and was being treated in Pune hospital.

Another ground cited by him was that his children were yet to complete their education and one of them was in class tenth.

He also alleged discrimination, saying that there were several officers who were in Mumbai for more than five years.
 
But Navy's counsels, Mandar Goswami and Afroz Shah, stressed that there was no fixed tenure in naval service. Exigencies faced by armed forces can not be compared by those faced working in government departments, they said.

High Court declined to interfere in transfer order eventually, but permitted Tripathi to approach internal authorities with his grievances.