Routine practice, say veterans

Himanshu K Lal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 29

As many as 16 gentlemen cadets of the Spring 2016 batch of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) have been relegated to repeat the six-month course after they were found guilty of violating the academy’s standing orders last week.

However, retired defence personnel say relegation of a gentleman cadet on the disciplinary ground is a normal practice in the military academies of the country. They say a stern decision such as to relegate a cadet or cadets is taken to ensure that such an incident does not repeat in the future.

The cadets were relegated on the ground that they beat up their juniors and took their objectionable photographs on the IMA campus. Meanwhile, one of the punished cadets claimed that they were relegated as they were from the Army Cadre College wing of the Academy, which is for non-commissioned officers, before they joined the IMA for pre-commissioning training.

Lt Gen GS Negi (retd), former Commandant of the IMA, says relegating a gentleman cadet on the disciplinary ground is a normal practice in the military academies of the country. “If the IMA authorities have relegated 16 cadets, probably they had no other option to maintain discipline in the academy,” he says. Relegation on poor academic or physical grounds or on the disciplinary ground is done on the recommendation of senior officers of the academy, Lt Gen Negi says.

Asked to comment on the incident, Brig KG Behl (retd) said there was zero tolerance for indiscipline in the military academies of the country. Trainers inculcate officer-like qualities among cadets during their pre-commissioning training and the cadets would be relegated if they were found not fit for commission on disciplinary or any other grounds, he added.