Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana high court has held that once an Army officer is on annual leave, any incident that occurs during the same period cannot be attributed to him/her merely because he happens to be the commanding officer (CO) of the unit.HC passed this order while setting aside the adverse remarks recorded by Army against Colonel R S Guleria (retd), former CO of a Rashtriya Rifles (RR) Battalion, in his ACR after the killing of some civilians in the area under his battalion’s jurisdiction in 2006. HC clarified that once the Court of enquiry (COI) had exonerated Guleria in the incident, it cannot be allowed to be recorded in his ACR so as to hamper his promotion.In its detailed order, the division bench of Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi and Justice Vikas Suri asked Army to grant promotion to Col Guleria, who has since retired, on notional basis and to modify his retiral benefits and arrears in case if he is found entitled for promotion.Col Guleria (retd) had moved HC challenging a 2014 order passed by Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) that upheld adverse remarks in his ACR for the period March-Aug 2006. These remarks allegedly affected his promotion prospects to the rank of Brigadier.The adverse entries were primarily based on allegations linking the officer’s unit to the deaths of six civilians in two incidents on Feb 22, 2006, and Aug 12, 2006.After hearing the matter and observing critical flaws in the basis of allegations against the officer, HC observed that Guleria had already been cleared of responsibility for the Feb 22 incident in a CoI. Despite this, the allegation continued to form part of his ACR.On the Aug 12 incident, HC held that it occurred when the officer was officially on leave, from July 17 to Aug 18, 2006, and the responsibility could not be attributed to him during that period.The judge observed that govt failed to produce any independent material justifying the adverse remarks during the relevant assessment period. The bench also held that once the foundational allegations are either disproved or irrelevant, any remarks based on them cannot stand. It emphasized that such entries could unfairly prejudice an officer’s career advancement.Setting aside the adverse ACR entries, HC directed Union govt to reconsider Guleria’s case for promotion. “Since the petitioner has already retired, any promotion, if granted, will be on a notional basis, with corresponding revision of retiral benefits,” the bench said.
