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Sqn. Ldr. (Retd.) Navtej Singh v. Union of India & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 1157Decided 5 Dec 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 11876-11877 of 2018
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Background

The appellant, an Indian Air Force officer, sought permission to marry a woman who held an Indian passport but was working in Canada on a Canadian immigrant visa. Air Force policy required prior permission (or 120 days' silence, which counted as deemed consent) before marrying a foreign-visa-holder, and failure to comply could invite disciplinary action. The appellant applied for permission in October 2008 but married in December 2008 without waiting for a response; he was later invalidated out of service on unrelated medical grounds, and the Air Force then refused to record his wife and daughter in his service records or grant them family benefits, saying his marriage was never sanctioned.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that although the appellant had technically married before receiving permission, the Air Force never took any disciplinary action against him for this and never expressly rejected his application: it simply never responded within the 120-day window, after which deemed consent would apply under the policy. The Court also found, after questioning the government's counsel, that there was no policy at all restricting a retired or released officer from marrying a foreign national, meaning the restriction only applied to serving officers. Since the appellant was no longer in service by the time his wife's status became an issue, the Court held there was no valid reason to deny his family the standard benefits given to a retired officer's spouse and children, and directed the Air Force to include the wife and daughter in his service certificate (at least from his date of release) and extend them all the usual benefits of a retired officer's family.

Lesson Learnt

A policy restriction that governs serving personnel does not automatically survive to bind a person after they leave service, and where an authority neither acts on an alleged rule violation nor responds within its own stipulated timeline, it cannot later rely on that same lapse to deny family benefits.

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

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