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Narain Singh v. Union of India & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 1064Decided 20 Sept 2019
Civil Appeal Nos. 7452-7453 of 2019
Justice Arun Mishra · Justice M.R. Shah · Justice B.R. Gavai

Background

Narain Singh was enrolled as a Driver in the Indian Army in 1980 and rose to the rank of Lance Dafedar. Between June 1993 and May 1994 he received four "red ink entries" (adverse disciplinary remarks), and the Army discharged him under Rule 13(3)(III)(v) of the Army Rules after more than 13 years of service: just short of the time needed to qualify for pension. The Armed Forces Tribunal upheld his discharge, and his review application was also dismissed, leading him to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the discharge was mechanical and unjustified. Relying on its earlier ruling in Veerendra Kumar Dubey v. Chief of Army Staff, the Court reiterated that four red ink entries do not make discharge mandatory: they merely place a soldier in a "grey area" for consideration, and the discharging authority must still independently weigh the nature of the misconduct and the individual's long service record. Since there was nothing on record showing the authority had considered Narain Singh's 13+ years of largely unblemished service or that his conduct was so grave as to leave no option but discharge, the Court found the discharge order unsustainable, set it aside, and allowed the appeals.

Lesson Learnt

A government or armed-forces employee cannot be discharged purely on the mechanical basis of meeting a technical threshold (like a set number of adverse entries): the authority must actually apply its mind to the severity of the conduct and the employee's service record before taking such a drastic step.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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