A few incidents, wherein senior army officers, in their official capacity, reportedly, ran foul of the majesty of law and were deemed to be in contempt of court, brings forth a long held apprehension that as the nation integrates the armed forces into the main stream, our senior functionaries will be blinded by intensity of the media glare and public scrutiny, akin to a rabbit, who tends to freeze to the spot, blinded by headlights of an incoming car .
In the recent incident, well not so recent, the DGBR (Not the incumbent) was found frozen to the spot for last 4 years. He has been found to have acted against the orders of the Gauhati High Court in not equating the SE(FG) with a full colonel. For those who have the opportunity to serve a tenure in the BRO as young subordinate officers, the strife and discord among the service and GREF oficers is amply evident as overbearing and invasive throughout the tenure.
A few naysayers would scoff, but rest assured they would be the ones who served in a Project headed by a service officer.
Coming back to the issue of the high court, (read the judgement here) or http://idse.org/judgement.pdf
(Do note the web address above- because this is from the other pillar of the corps of engineers, which may bring the (Kashmir) House down!)
You got to hand it to the hon'ble judge Roy at Gauhati. He was able to gather the intent behind the original govt notification of 2005 and sift through the ECM/ flares. Those officers who served in the BRO, circa 2005- did bring the issue of the Rajpatra (Gazette Notification) and the inner Shenanigans of the GREF clique to the attention of a few senior service officers. A layman could see the intent was to ensure that the GREF cadre officers were moved up one rank vis a vis their existing army equivalents without so much as 'by your leave' of the head of that organisation, the Director General.
The GREF officers could achieve this coup since they belong to the MoRT&H and not MoD. But the collective brasspot response was to put their heads into the ostriches’ nest. That the Notification was "only for the purpose of the Army Act", was obviously a lie floated for internal consumption. It would have been hilarious, if the matter was not this serious, that an order of the Government given in such clear language and adequately elaborated upon by the courts, could be handled such cavalierly.
IMHO, the release of this Gazette Notification in Feb 2005 was a watershed event in the history of disconnect between the armed forces and the civilian bureaucracy and along with the non compliance by the army in releasing the Muslim personnel data, (which alienated the politicians) should count as the two immediate precursors to the present 6CPC imbroglio, which has put armed forces at loggerheads with the executive.
Further, negligence of the kind exhibited in the above court case, sows sense of doubt amongst the judiciary and ultimately our masters, the common public! Surely we have a special army with bright, talented functionaries.
A Personal Aside-(From a verbal briefing by a BRO veteran!)
Remember, ye all youngsters
When under a GREF officer- the first rule of engagement is to make sure that you allow the colour of your uniform to morph into a dirty shade of khaki while at the same time scrub your inner-self so as to rid yourself of any vestige of Chatwodian principles and brotherhood of the armed forces. (Each one on his own, sir, and the most slimy, survives!).
In the recent incident, well not so recent, the DGBR (Not the incumbent) was found frozen to the spot for last 4 years. He has been found to have acted against the orders of the Gauhati High Court in not equating the SE(FG) with a full colonel. For those who have the opportunity to serve a tenure in the BRO as young subordinate officers, the strife and discord among the service and GREF oficers is amply evident as overbearing and invasive throughout the tenure.
A few naysayers would scoff, but rest assured they would be the ones who served in a Project headed by a service officer.
Coming back to the issue of the high court, (read the judgement here) or http://idse.org/judgement.pdf
(Do note the web address above- because this is from the other pillar of the corps of engineers, which may bring the (Kashmir) House down!)
You got to hand it to the hon'ble judge Roy at Gauhati. He was able to gather the intent behind the original govt notification of 2005 and sift through the ECM/ flares. Those officers who served in the BRO, circa 2005- did bring the issue of the Rajpatra (Gazette Notification) and the inner Shenanigans of the GREF clique to the attention of a few senior service officers. A layman could see the intent was to ensure that the GREF cadre officers were moved up one rank vis a vis their existing army equivalents without so much as 'by your leave' of the head of that organisation, the Director General.
The GREF officers could achieve this coup since they belong to the MoRT&H and not MoD. But the collective brasspot response was to put their heads into the ostriches’ nest. That the Notification was "only for the purpose of the Army Act", was obviously a lie floated for internal consumption. It would have been hilarious, if the matter was not this serious, that an order of the Government given in such clear language and adequately elaborated upon by the courts, could be handled such cavalierly.
IMHO, the release of this Gazette Notification in Feb 2005 was a watershed event in the history of disconnect between the armed forces and the civilian bureaucracy and along with the non compliance by the army in releasing the Muslim personnel data, (which alienated the politicians) should count as the two immediate precursors to the present 6CPC imbroglio, which has put armed forces at loggerheads with the executive.
Further, negligence of the kind exhibited in the above court case, sows sense of doubt amongst the judiciary and ultimately our masters, the common public! Surely we have a special army with bright, talented functionaries.
A Personal Aside-(From a verbal briefing by a BRO veteran!)
Remember, ye all youngsters
When under a GREF officer- the first rule of engagement is to make sure that you allow the colour of your uniform to morph into a dirty shade of khaki while at the same time scrub your inner-self so as to rid yourself of any vestige of Chatwodian principles and brotherhood of the armed forces. (Each one on his own, sir, and the most slimy, survives!).
Finally, as always-
'VOTE' to be relevent.Else continue on a wing and a prayer.
8 comments:
Forget t he niceties now. Screw that bastard GREF man who has asked to be equated. Bury h is balls in a landslide and make an example of him. Go to court, be nice to them and they will screw you. The Army BR officers should take a pledge to screw one BR Officer each day.
Surprising! That SOB Pragmatic has not got orgasms after learning about this.
@Anonymous@3.00 AM
We can keep the cuss words at a lower key and discuss the reason as to why a gazette notification was not clearly understood and executed by the authorities or the hon'ble court taken into confidence, indeed, if at all, the HQDGBR had reverted to the govt on the content of the GN.
A serving officer going to a civil jail for an act committed in his official capacity is an episode which brings a hundred times more shame and ridicule on us in uniform, than an individual act by an armyman like, for example (but not proven), Purohit's.
You state Pragmatic. Sir, there is indeed a discussion on at that site too. http://pragmatic.nationalinterest.in/2009/02/06/unforced-errors/
However, the supporters of the army are clearly on a backfoot there.
No need to be on a backfoot. Read Navdeeps blogs on this.
Welcome overview by Navdeep. Very succinct and to the point.
However, the fact remains that someone slept over it for 4 years :-).
BRO is a mixed organisation with a 50% intake from the army corps of engineers at commander Task Force (Director) and chief engineer level and the remaining 50% are from the GREF.
A notification (motivated or stupid) which was bound to create controversy in such an important organisation of the central government deserves to have reached the appropriate decision making authority and decision obtained thereupon.
There is no excuse that the Dir (Legal) was a GREF officer!! and hence this situation.
Hang him, NOW!!
ya, what u r saying is right...
we should do something for the betterment of our service fellows
the language used by the friend may be reverted to him, and what would be his feeling.Why they look fruites in GREF pers.food plate.
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