The Army’s promotion board
results for the ranks of Major General and Lt General have been inexplicably
delayed which may result in many deserving officers
losing their chance to get promoted and many may retire in their present rank itself.
The Army had conducted a selection board for the promotion of Major Generals to Lt Generals in
April this year. It is learnt that there are around 17 vacancies for the rank of Lt Gen in the
Command and Staff streams. As many as 65 Major Generals were considered for these
vacancies.
According to sources in Army
HQs, the Military Secretary’s branch had completed the formalities at the
Army’s end and forwarded the board results to the Ministry of Defence in May itself. After the MoD gives the nod, the appointments are then put up to
the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet for the final approval following which
the promotion board results are de-c classified and the officers are promoted
as per their seniority and merit.
These officers who will be
cleared in this promotion board results will be cleared to pick up appointments
in the Command as well as Staff Stream as per their merit. Those approved for
Command stream will go on to command a Corps while the others will be posted to
staff appointments in Army HQs or static formations like GOC of an Area, Chief
of Staff of a Command or a staff
appointment in Army HQs.
Normally the promotion board results are out within a period of two months. However, since the board
results have been delayed by at least a month and, sources say, are not likely
to be cleared within the next one month too, many officers stand to lose their
chance at promotion because their date of retirement is approaching. Thus even
if they are approved by the promotion board, they will not be able to pick up
their rank.
The predicament is also acute
for many officers who may not be able to command a corps despite having been
approved in the Command Stream. This is because an officer needs to have a
residual service of at least three years on the day the board results are
declared in order to get the appointment of a General Officer Commanding of a Corps.
In fact, this is not the only
category of officers affected by delay in announcement of promotion board
results. Sources say the promotion board results of Brigadier to Major General
rank have also been delayed.
In this instance, the board
was held in the first week of May this year. There were 45 vacancies of Major
Generals for which 125 Brigadiers were considered. Here again many officers
will retire from service if the MoD does not de-classify the results soon.
Sources in MoD say that while
the initial delay in declaring the results was because of the general elections
and the wait for a new government to take over, the present delay is unexpected
Needless to say that many
officers lower down in the merit for the rank of Major General and Lt General will
immensely benefit if those in higher order of merit either retire from service
or are over-age for some key appointments.
Sources inform that several
officers are now planning to approach the Principal Bench of the Armed Forces
Tribunal in New Delhi