Overlooked officer refuses to go away

A Major General who was denied Lieutenant General rank and retired three days ago showed up at his office in Army headquarters on Monday. In an unusual move, his office has been sealed to keep him away.

Major General VK Jain has dragged the defence ministry, army chief and military secretary to court after being rejected by a promotion board, which approved 18 two-star officers last week. Jain’s conduct has been labelled “mutinous”. Jain, who retired as Additional Director General (Movement), is said to be close to a top bureaucrat.

It is learnt that Jain, a 1969 batch artillery officer, refused to leave until the army built up sufficient pressure. The organisation has taken strong exception to his conduct and is likely to institute an inquiry into the “trespass”.

However, Jain is aghast at the army’s “extreme reaction” and has accused the higher-ups of being “vindictive”. He told HT: “I have sought legal remedy after being wrongly denied promotion. I guess I have rubbed people the wrong way and they are gunning for me. I visited my office to say goodbye to my colleagues. I feel sad I have got this treatment after 38 years of meritorious service.”

Jain moved the Delhi High Court on August 31 seeking directions to the ministry to promote him to the next rank. His case comes up for hearing on September 24. He claims the high court has deferred his retirement pending disposal of his writ petition. He said one interpretation of this could be that he has not reached superannuation. The court has issued notices to all respondents. Jain has also impleaded a recently promoted lieutenant general as respondent in the case, on the grounds that the latter was junior to him. Jain said he was a soldier and would fight to the end.

Army officers dubbed his demeanour “unofficer-like”. Just last year, Jain was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.