HC upheld IAF flight cadet termination, calls integrity as hallmark of forces

Empathy and sympathy have no place in matters of discipline in defence forces as a nation should have a fighting force of morally upright, effective and righteous officers, the Delhi High Court has said while upholding the termination of a flight cadet with the Indian Air Force for theft of Rs 5,000. Honesty and integrity are the hallmarks of armed forces and during the training period, the flight cadets are tested not only for their professional competence but also for these attributes, it said.

"...an act of theft is an indication of their moral fibre and such cadets cannot be considered suitable to be commissioned in the Forces," said a bench of justices G S Sistani and Jyoti Singh. The court was hearing a petition by a flight cadet who was terminated by IAF in December 2016 for stealing the debit card of a colleague and withdrawing Rs 5,000 from his bank account.

He refused to accept his act initially, but later he admitted the mistake after realising that the CCTV footage would reveal his action. In a recent order, the bench dismissed his petition and upheld the termination saying that "having looked through the files, we find no fault with the decision-making process and therefore, we find no reason to interfere with the punishment imposed by the respondents (authorities)".

The court said it needed no emphasis that being a pilot he would be entrusted with "flying Air Crafts", would have "access to sensitive data" relating to Air Force stations, equipment etc. and therefore, "virtues like honesty and integrity become extremely important". The court had earlier directed the authorities to re-examine the proceedings of the initial Training Review Board (TRB), under certain parameters laid down by the court.

After reassessing the TRB proceedings, the authorities came to the conclusion that the cadet lacked the basic Officer Like Quality (OLQ) and was not suitable to be commissioned. "Needless to say, only the respondents have the expertise to decide as to who is suitable or not to be commissioned, and this court is not equipped to take such a decision on their behalf. It is a settled law that in a judicial review this Court can only interfere in the decision-making process and not substitute its own decision for the decision of the Government.

"Empathy and sympathy can have no place in matters of discipline in the Forces," the bench said. The board had concluded that in cases of offences or acts of indiscipline like theft or fraud which are serious acts of misconduct and depict lack of officer like quality, termination of training is ordinarily the norm.

The court said Air Force order (AFO) showed that acts of theft, fraud and forgery are considered as "highest level of indiscipline" and since these are indicators of lack of OLQ, a penalty of termination of training is provided for. It upheld the punishment of termination of training of the cadet saying the authorities have acted as per the provision of the AFO.

The bench said the cadet's submission that there was nothing adverse against him either during his tenure in Sainik School or the NDA Academy and the theft case was a stand-alone aberration, was appealing at the first blush, but cannot be a ground to condone the act of theft committed by him. "While we would refrain from commenting on the conduct, it would be relevant to state that if at the slightest opportunity the petitioner had succumbed to stealing, the respondents are not wrong in arguing that he lacked Officer Like Quality," it said.

The court observed that a cadet to be recruited to the Armed Force must be worthy of confidence and should be a person of utmost rectitude, impeccable character and integrity. "It is very important for a country to have a fighting force comprising of morally upright, effective, righteous officers. They are expected to provide security to the nation and its people and therefore, the training academies have to ensure that ethical, upright and principled people find their way into the Forces. It is thus imperative that only those who are worthy of the confidence and trust are drawn into the forces," it remarked.

The court agreed with the authorities that three years of training in NDA, where the ethos of the Armed Forces is engrained into the cadet, also had no effect on the cadet. "Discipline and officer like quality are the heart and soul of any armed force personnel and any relaxation in the standard of discipline and integrity can prove disastrous for the nation. Respondents are right that if the petitioner is given a lenient treatment, it would set a wrong precedent for future cadets and officers, which the Armed Forces can never afford," it held.

It added that the purpose of specialised training in the Air Force Academy was to adjudge the professional competence of the cadet as well as his overall suitability before he was commissioned as an officer in the Indian Air Force. At this stage, therefore, an officer like qualities have to be adjudged and in a case like this, where a cadet lacks the basic OLQs the decision to terminate him cannot be termed as wrong, it said.

(With inputs from agencies.)