New Delhi: Armed Forces personnel are
expected to be men of integrity and anyone indulging in
fraudulent acts cannot be retained in services, the Supreme
Court has said upholding the sentence of one year imprisonment
to a senior army officer for misappropriating public funds.
A bench of justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale refused
to give any relief to former Commanding Officer of the 6
Armoured Regiment Rabinder Singh accused of misappropriating
funds of around Rs 77,000 through a forged bill.
"The armed forces are known for their integrity and
reputation. The senior officers of the Armed Forces are
expected to be men of integrity and character. When any such
charge is proved against a senior officer, the reputation of
the Army also gets affected.
"Therefore, any officer indulging into such acts could no
longer be retained in the services of the Army, and the order
passed by the General Court Martial could not be faulted," the
bench said.
The court passed the order on a petition filed by the
Centre challenging Punjab and Haryana High Court`s order which
had set aside the court martial against the officer.
In this case Singh was court martialed and dismissed from
job and was sentenced to one year imprisonment after it was
proved that he had submitted fictitious documents and
pre-receipted bills to withdraw the amount which his regiment
was not authorised to do.
After conducting inquiry it was found that no such items
were purchased, but fictitious documents and bills were
procured and although the cheques showed the names of some
vendors, but the amount was withdrawn by Singh himself.
The Supreme Court, after hearing the arguments of the
Centre and Singh, set aside the order of the High Court.
PTI
