New Delhi: A plea by a Major for quitting
the Army to take care of his ailing father was on Tuesday rejected
the Armed Forces Tribunal holding that he was a UAV specialist
whose services cannot be dispensed with in national interest.
"Since Major Sumit Sharma is a specialised officer in
particular branch (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations)
which is already running short of officers... we do not think
proper to interfere in this matter as the national interest
has higher priority than any other priority," the Tribunal
bench headed by Justice A K Mathur and Lt Gen M L Naidu said
here.
"Since his services are indispensable to the Army
because of his specialised training, therefore, we are not
inclined to interfere in the matter," it said.
Sharma had filed a plea urging the Tribunal to direct
the Army to accept his resignation with immediate effect and
relieve him with all the benefits from Service as he had to
look after his ailing father.
The officer, posted at Jammu, had contended that his
application for compassionate posting to New Delhi to look
after his old-aged sick parents, was rejected by his own
Unit.
After the death of his mother in 2007, the officer had
submitted his resignation with the Army headquarters which was
also rejected.
The petition was transfered in August 2009 from the
Delhi High Court to the Tribunal, which had asked the Army to
dispose of his case in six months.
The Army had opposed the resignation by the officer
saying Sharma had received specialist UAV training as an
observer in 2006 for Israeli-made UAV systems and was suitably
employed as per his training.
It had said that there was an acute shortage of
officers in the Regiment of Artillery and the criticality was
more profound for specialist officers.
PTI
