AFT upholds bifurcation of Sena Medal into two categories of 'Gallantry' and 'Distinguished Service'

Vijay Mohan 

Chandigarh, October 25

The Armed Forces Tribunal has upheld the bifurcation of the award of the Sena Medal in two different categories of ‘Sena Medal (Gallantry)’ and ‘Sena Medal (Distinguished Service)’, which had been done following recommendations of an expert committee in 2000.

Dismissing the plea of a Major General for re-categorisation of his award, received in 1993, from Distinguished Service to Gallantry, the Tribunal’s Bench comprising Justice Rajendra Menon and Lt Gen CP Mohanty has ruled that the bifurcation of the Sena Medal and consequent categorisation of the officer’s award as Distinguished Service does not suffer from any legal lacunae.

Until 1998, the Sena Medal was awarded without making any distinction of wither gallantry or distinguished service and the gazette notification stated that the award of Sena Medal was for acts of exceptional devotion to duty or courage.

The Major General had averred that his award had been conferred by the President and that the re-categorisation of the award by the Ministry of Defence was without sanction of the President and hence ultra vires and illegal.

He had been conferred the Sena Medal for his role as a brigade commander in Jammu and Kashmir for rescuing Khemlata Wakhlu, former minister of tourism, Jammu and Kashmir, and her husband, DR ON Wakhlu, who had been taken hostage by terrorists. He had claimed that he had personally led the operation as brigade commander, resulting in the hostages being recused unharmed.

The Bench observed that the Major General’s citation unambiguously stated that he was recommended for the award of the Vishisht Seva Medal/Sena Medal for rendering distinguished service of a high order.

“Even if there was an act of gallantry in the rescue operation, the petitioner who was leading the operation meaning thereby commanding a force, there is no evidence on record to suggest that he was personally on the forefront and directly exposed to threat of hostile fire from terrorists or executed a personal act of gallantry to be qualified for a gallantry award,” the Bench said. Therefore, the initial citation was for award of the Vishisht Seva Medal, which is for distinguished service and higher in pre3cedence than the Sena Medal, Bench added.

“We are therefore of the considered opinion that there has been no change to the award of Sena Medal as such, except that the expert committee has distinguished all Sena Medals as Sena Medal (Gallantry) and Sena Medal (Distinguished Service), based on a study of specific citations of the awardees. We do not endorse the assertion that there has been any malafide intent or bias in this process, particularly in case of the petitioner,” the Bench ruled.

The Bench, however, directed that various monetary grants, income tax exemptions and other any benefits received by the petitioner till 2017 shall not be recovered. He had contended that he learnt about the bifurcation only in 2016 when he had received a letter from the Army Headquarters stating that his award was for devotion to duty.