New Delhi, Sept. 5 (PTI): A military tribunal today quashed the 2011 court martial of a former Lieutenant General, P.K. Rath, over the Sukna land scam near Siliguri and fined the army Rs 1 lakh for “loss of honour”.
Rath, the first serving three-star rank officer to have faced such disciplinary action, had been found guilty of issuing a no-objection certificate to a private builder for an educational institution on a 70-acre plot adjacent to the Sukna cantonment where he was the commander of 33 Corps.
The scam came to light in mid-2008 when former army chief and current Union minister Gen. V.K. Singh was eastern army commander, overseeing Sukna. He had initiated the inquiry.
Another former officer, Lt Gen. Avdesh Prakash, had also faced court martial in the case, but Rath was the first to have been handed the punishment that included a loss of seniority of 18 months, forfeiture of 15 years of past service for the purpose of pension and “severe reprimand”.
Today, the Armed Forces Tribunal overturned that decision. “The petitioner is acquitted of all charges. He is entitled to restoration of all benefits with 12 per cent interest,” judge Sunil Hali said.
The tribunal did not explain why it had cleared Rath but said he had suffered undue harassment and loss of reputation which, if not compensated, would be a travesty of justice.
Justice Hali also quoted the Gita. “People will always speak of your (Rath’s) infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonour is worse than death. Therefore, as a notional compensation for the harassment and loss of honour… a cost of Rs 1,00,000 is to be paid by the respondents (the army).”
In his appeal, Rath alleged that Gen. V.K. Singh had given “undue importance” to the case as he had a “serious grudge” against his co-accused, former Lt Gen. Prakash.
Gen. V.K. Singh held Prakash responsible as then military secretary for obtaining a commitment from him on his date of birth which stood in the way of his extension as army chief, Rath said in his plea.
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