Compulsory retirement: Defence secretary put on notice in ex-army officer’s case

The petitioner says that he resorted to legal battle as allowed under military laws but he received no response.

RAWALPINDI:

The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench, on Wednesday, gave the defence secretary two weeks to respond to a petition filed by a former army officer who was compulsorily retired after he refused to trim his beard.

Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Younas sought a written response from the defence ministry after Maj. (retd.) Zaheerud Din contended in his petition that he was declared at fault without being given a chance to plead his case. The ex-army officer said he was posted in an artillery regiment when his commanding officers asked him to trim his beard that he had grown strictly in accordance with army rules. The petitioner said senior officers started victimising him upon his refusal and his request for a transfer from the jurisdiction of the brigade commander was turned down.

Last January, the petitioner received a letter from the GHQ military secretary intimating him about an advance notice for retirement in the following words, “COAS has approved your compulsory retirement “Due to Fault” with effect from May 13, 2012.”



The petitioner said he resorted to legal battle as allowed under military laws but he received no response. He even tried to personally appear before the chief of army staff (COAS), but he was asked to appear before the adjutant general.

During the petitioner’s interview with the adjutant general, Maj. (retd.) Zaheerud Din found out that his retirement was approved by the COAS, after he was told that the major had received a fair chance to defend himself and that he had been interviewed at the Personnel Services Directorate , GHQ.

The GHQ military secretary admitted that the petitioner had been wronged and the retirement order of the petitioner was held in abeyance.

Last August, however, once again a similar order was issued by the military secretary conveying that the petitioner had been compulsorily retired.

The petitioner said since he had not completed 15 years of service, he would be deprived of all military service benefits if he were forcibly retired.

The major has stated that he was retired with malafide intentions and requested the court to declare the notification as corum non judice, without jurisdiction and strike down the retirement order.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2013.