New Delhi: The Supreme Court has upheld the discharge of certain Air Force officers by the government for being habitual offenders. A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam said the government had sufficiently followed the Air Force Rules, 1969, while discharging the delinquent officers.

The apex court upheld the discharge orders while allowing a bunch of appeals filed by the Union government against the Rajasthan High Court's orders. The High Court had quashed the discharge orders on the ground that the disciplinary authority did not give proper consideration to the replies filed by the aggrieved officers in the show-cause notices issued to them.

However, the apex court after perusing the documents held that the authorities had followed the relevant rules and had given adequate opportunities to the delinquent officers to voice their views before discharging them from service. The habitual offenders policy was formulated by the Air Force mainly to weed out indisciplined personnel from the force.

The policy was formulated on the basis of a study conducted by the defence management, wherein it was held that a core group of airmen had been regularly contributing to the annual offences statistics in the Air Force. It was stated that the behaviour of such officers had an adverse effect and influence on the general morale and discipline of others, particularly the younger recruits.

Source : PTI