Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 14

The Supreme Court today clarified that the newly-created 141 additional posts of Colonel in the Army should be offered to five batches from 1992-97, not six batches (1992-98).A Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur passed the order on a petition by some officers, complaining that the Army was not properly implementing a judgment delivered by the SC on February 15 for redressing combat support units’ grievances arising from the Command Exit Policy for promotions.“You were generous in creating the posts, but miserly in offering these. It is a clear case of misinterpretation of our order. If you had any doubt, you should have come to us, instead of deliberately misinterpreting it,” the Bench told Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh at today’s hearing.The Bench had, in its February 15 ruling, endorsed the promotion policy meant for reducing the age profile of the commanding officers and achieving optimal combat effectiveness as suggested by Ajay Vikram Singh in the light of the 1999 Kargil war.“There is nothing perverse, unreasonable or unfair about the policy that the age of officers serving in Combat Arms and Combat Arms Support will be lowered by creating additional vacancies to be allotted on Command Exit Model,” the court had ruled, directing the government to create 141 additional posts of Colonel to be allocated to the Combat Support stream.