CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), Chandimandir, has ruled that Wing Commander Namrita Chandi (retd), a Short Service Commission officer of the Indian Air Force, is deemed to have completed 20 years of pensionable service.
The Bench, comprising Justice Sudhir Mittal and Lt Gen (Dr) Ranbir Singh (retd), ordered that she be granted a pension and all other retirement benefits payable to an officer who has completed 20 years of pensionable service.
Rejecting the Union of India’s request for an adjournment on the ground that the paper book was unavailable, the bench noted that the Supreme Court's orders were well known and observed that the top court's judgment "leaves no doubt that Short Service Commission officers who had opted for Permanent Commission but not granted the same and were instead granted extension were held to be entitled to Permanent Commission at par with male Short Service Commission Officers."
The bench stated that the benefit was to be given only to those who had approached the Supreme Court and had retired in the interregnum. "Those women officers who had retired were entitled to reinstatement and grant of all consequential benefits except pay and allowance for the period they were not in service,” the order stated.
The Bench cited the case of Lt Cdr Annie Nagaraja & Others and said one of the directions issued was that those denied consideration for Permanent Commission and who were presently not in service should be deemed to have completed substantive pensionable service and would be entitled to pensionary benefits.
Modifying the 2015 judgment, the Bench ruled that Wing Commander Chandi would be granted pension with effect from the day following the day on which she completed 20 years of service. In 1996, Wing Commander Chandi was granted a Short Service Commission (SSC) in the Indian Air Force and her initial period of appointment was 10 years. Before completing this period, she sought Permanent Commission but was granted a five-year extension. But her request for Permanent Commission was denied on the ground that there was no such provision for SSC officers in the flying branch. Thus, she retired in 2011.
Chandi had filed a writ petition before the Delhi High Court in 2011, challenging the denial of Permanent Commission. The case was transferred to the Principal Bench of the AFT in 2014, which allowed it, along with a batch of cases, in 2015, placing reliance on the Delhi High Court judgment in ‘Babita Puniya and Others Vs. The Secretary and Another’.
The defence authorities approached the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal in 2019. When Chandi served a legal notice, Air Force authorities informed her that the competent authority had decided to consider her suitability for Permanent Commission.
An independent board of officers was constituted, and she was directed to report for a medical examination on July 22, 2020, if she was willing to accept the offer. She objected to being evaluated on parameters laid down in the policies for 2004 and 2010 after nine years out of service.
Counsel for Wing Commander Chandi, Sandeep Bansal, had submitted before the bench that she was entitled to a pension, having served for 20 years, and to other retirement benefits applicable to officers who had retired from service. He sought a modification of the AFT’s 2015 judgment, citing Supreme Court rulings in the Army and Navy women officers' cases, Babita Puniya and Annie Nagaraja.