New Delhi. 26 September 2016. Not a greatnews for the in-service cadre of Military Engineering Service o its 94th Raising Day.
Military Engineering Services (MES), will continue to have fixed posts and cadres for army officers. The Delhi high court has ruled out a plea of IDSE an association representing civilian officers of MES.
Two years back, this association had moved the high court challenging the 1989 regulations saying that it has adversely affected conditions of service for its officers in MES. It also contended that MES could not have been restructured by the government by framing them under the Army Act, 1950.
A bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Deepa Sharma, dismissed the petition saying , “by statutorily earmarking the number of posts and cadres, definiteness as to where army officers could be posted, was imparted. Hitherto such certainty did not exist. Neither army officers could claim more than what was provided in the regulations, nor could the army post such officers, in excess of such defined cadres”.
The court stated that the IDSE association have not been able to demonstrate how their accrued or vested rights have been adversely affected because of the change in the rules.
Looking back into history the court recalled that nearly 20 years ago, the officers of the IDSE had challenged the regulation before the Central Administrative Tribunal, but was turned down. A subsequent challenge to the verdict was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1997.
The court said that historically, MES has had a composite character and the 1989 regulations brought “an element of definiteness and finality’ to its cadre structure”.
