The Delhi High Court has struck down a BSF recruitment rule which required officers to serve two years in a "duty battalion" to be eligible for promotion, terming the condition as "unreasonable".
Allowing a batch of petitions filed by BSF officers challenging clause 4 of the (General Duty Officers) Recruitment Rules 2001, a division bench headed by Justice TS Thakur recently said, "We strike down the requirement of two years...For promotion to the next higher post of Second in-Command".
Observing that it was not the prerogative of officers to decide their postings as the force headquarters chooses who would be posted where, the court said, "It would be wholly unfair and unreasonable if the officers were to suffer due to an authority like the force headquarters.
"There is no procedure or mechanism that entitles an officer to insist that he must be posted as deputy commandant in a duty battalion. So long as there is such mechanism, the reqsuirement of two years. Can not be treated as a condition of eligibility," the bench said and asked the BSF to consider the petitioners' application for promotion.
The court accepted a submission by the petitioners' counsel, Rekha Palli, that some BSF general duty officers rendered their service in the National Security Guard (NSG), Special Protection Group (SPG) and UN missions.
{{/usCountry}}The court accepted a submission by the petitioners' counsel, Rekha Palli, that some BSF general duty officers rendered their service in the National Security Guard (NSG), Special Protection Group (SPG) and UN missions.
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