Judgment

SAWANT, J.:- This case is a glaring example of gross negligence and callousness on the part of the authorities and the consequent indescribable mental torment and physical and financial hardship caused to the widow and the two minor children of an Army Officer. The apathy and the extremely casual attitude adopted by the concerned officers travelled even to the proceedings in this Court and are writ large on the affidavit in reply which they have filed in response to the petition.

The petitioners husband, Mukhbain Singh was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Indian Army on or about 13-10-1963 according to the petitioner and on 1-6-1968 according to the respondent-authorities, and was promoted to the rank of Major on 24-5-1978. On promotion, he was posted at Kargil on 10-6-1978. According to the petitioner, he complained of chest pain on 12-6-1978 and was removed to Leh on 16-6-1978. The diagnosis made was of Ischaemic heart disease. The petitioner who was married to Mukhbain Singh in 1971 was living in Meerut at the relevant time with her two children - a daughter born in 1972 and a son born in 1975. On receiving information of the illness of her husband, she rushed with her children to Leh on 16-6-1978. After a great deal of persuasion, the petitioner and her children were allowed to meet Mukhbain Singh who was then lying in a make-shift hospital which was devoid of life-saving treatment at the relevant time. She found her husband in a precarious condition. He was unable to move on his own. Both the petitioner and her husband requested the authorities to air-lift him to Ambala or Srinagar Military Hospital for proper treatment. This request was turned down. Upon this the petitioner and her husband requested the authorities to discharge him so that he, might move to Srinagar at his own risk. That request was also not acceded to. On the other hand, he was threatened with Court-martial. After a great deal of persuasion and pleading, on 19-6-1978 one Dr. Major Boffalo agreed to shift Mukhbain Singh from Leh to Ambala and told the petitioner that her husband would be airlifted to Ambala on 21-6-1978. The petitioner and her husband pleaded with the authorities that she and her children be allowed to accompany him but that request was also not acceded to. She was asked to move with her children independently from Leh, and reach Ambala to receive her husband there.

The petitioner was not satisfied with the assurance given by the authorities and insisted that she would stay on till her husband was actually airlifted on 21-6-1979. On 21-6-1978, Mukhbain Singh was not airlifted. On enquiry, it was revealed that the Commanding Officer had not passed the necessary orders for his evacuation to Ambala Army Hospital. However, the authorities persuaded the petitioner to move to Ambala with an assurance that her husband would be airlifted to that place on 23-6-1978. Hence, on 22-6-1978 the petitioner with her children reached Srinagar and from there, reached Udhampur on 23-6-1978. On that day at the Udhampur check post, she was informed that her husband was not "well" and she should return to Leh. The petitioner rushed back to Leh the next day, i.e., on 24-6-1979. There she was to receive a rude shock when she was shown the burnt body of her husband. The authorities did not disclose to her the circumstances under which her husband had received the burns. Later on, she was only given a report of the post-mortem examination conducted by the Army Medical Authorities at Leh which attributed the death to "extensive burns".

2. According to the authorities, after Mukhbain Singh complained of chest pain at Kargil he was evacuated to Leh on 16-6-1978. He was advised transfer to Ambala on 22nd Jan., 1978. The transfer according to the authorities, "was not an emergency one". It is also the case of the authorities that it is Mukhbain Singh who did not board the plane on 23-1-1978. According to them, on that day he had gone to attend to some private