A military tribunal on Friday quashed the court martial of Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath, former 33 Corps Commander, in the Sukna land scam.
The scam became public in mid-2008 when the former Army chief, Gen. V.K. Singh, was the chief of the Eastern Army Command and had initiated the court of inquiry.
The tribunal imposed a fine of Rs. 1 lakh on the Army for “loss of honour” in the case in which Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath became the first serving three-star rank officer to face disciplinary action.
In 2011, a court martial found him guilty in the alleged scam for issuing a no-objection certificate to a private builder for building an educational institution on a 70-acre plot adjacent to the military cantonment in Sukna in West Bengal.
Lt. Gen. Rath and Lt. Gen. Avdesh Prakash had faced court martial in the case, but the former was the first to have been punished.
“The petitioner is acquitted of all charges. He is entitled to restoration of all benefits with 12 per cent interest,” an Armed Forces Tribunal Bench headed by Justice Sunil Hali said in its judgment.
The Bench said the petitioner suffered undue harassment and loss of reputation by the act of the respondents which if not compensated would be a travesty of justice.
“Therefore, as a notional compensation for the harassment and loss of honour and name caused to the petitioner, a cost of Rs. 1,00,000 is to be paid by respondents,” it said.
After being court-martialled by an Army court comprising seven officers of the rank of Lieutenant General, Lt. Gen. Rath had filed a petition in the tribunal demanding the quashing of his General Court Martial (GCM) and granting him exemplary compensation for the loss of reputation and honour.
In January 2011, the GCM punished him by awarding the sentence of loss of seniority of rank of 18 months; forfeiture of 15 years service for the purpose of pension and severe reprimand.
Quoting the Bhagavad Gita, Justice Hali said, “People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonour is worse than death.”
In his petition, Lt. Gen. Rath alleged that Gen. Singh had given undue importance to the case as he had a “serious grudge” against the then Military Secretary Lt. Gen Prakash, whom he held responsible for obtaining a commitment from him on the issue of his (Gen. Singh’s) date of birth, which stood in the way of his extension of tenure as the Chief of the Army Staff.
