The case involves a petition filed by Lt Col Mukul Dev through his counsel Rajeev Manglik where he had pleaded that he was transferred "illegally" from legal branch to the one looking after land records, which allegedly adversely affected his career prospects.
"We find that the applicant was indeed transferred, though illegally, from JAG Branch to Q Branch which was inappropriately made and he functioned in Q Branch under the Brigadier who headed Q Branch and not under the Deputy-JAG who headed the JAG Branch," the AFT said in its order today.
"As regards taking action against officials responsible for causing illegal transfer of the applicant in March 2009, Government may take suitable action as it is deemed appropriate in light of our observations only after proper investigation by a competent authority within the ambit of the Army Rules," it added.
In his plea, Dev had alleged that Army's Judge Advocate General Maj Gen P S Rathore, who was then was functioning as Deputy JAG in Central Command, was allegedly not in favour of his posting.
According to Manglik, there was opposition from within the department to his assumption of office even prior to his joining.
In his petition, Dev had prayed the AFT to declare the action of the respondents as unjust, arbitrary and illegal and sought quashing of the orders issued by authorities on January 1, 2010.
He had also sought initiation of disciplinary actions against all the officers responsible for side stepping him and taking actions which adversely affected his career.
