HC reserves Army order rejecting officer's resignation

The Delhi High Court has set aside the order of the Army refusing resignation to its woman officer who had said that her continuance in service was affecting her family life.

The plea of Captain Krishna, a nurse with a military hospital in Roorkee, was rejected in August 2009 by the Army Headquarters, which had asked her to join duty. However, the High Court held that the rejection of her plea by the Army was against her fundamental rights of privacy and dignity.

"The order certainly tantamount to a gross violation of the privacy and dignity of the petitioner and hence her constitutional right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India," a division bench of Justice Gita Mittal and Justice J R Midha said.

"We hold that the rejection of application for resignation by the Union of India is not based on relevant material but premised to instructions which govern the subject and thereby justifies the interference by this court," the court said.

Directing the Army to consider her application afresh within four weeks, the bench added: "The order of posting was unwarranted and unjust."

Krishna, who had sought resignation from service in November 2008, had submitted that her family life was getting disturbed as she had to frequently travel a long distance from Ranipur near Haridwar, where her husband and daughter were residing, to Roorkee.

She had been posted in Roorkee since 2001 when she got permanent commission in the Army.

In December 2004, she got married to Rajiv Vishwakarma, a BHEL employee, who was posted in Ranipur.

They had a baby girl in 2005. The petitioner said their daughter had to suffer due to long absence of parents at home which forced her to take the decision of resigning from service.

In November 2008, she had sent the application to the Commandant, Military Hospital, Roorkee, seeking permission to resign but in August last year she was informed about the rejection of her plea through a letter from the Army Headquarters which also asked her to join back the unit within 60 days.

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