K. Ramamoorthy, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner, who has served in the Indian Army for more than 26 years, sought for premature retirement on the ground that he has to look after his mother afflicted with cancer and his father retired Airforce Officer who is visually handicapped. The petitioner in his writ petition in paragraph 28 of the writ petition has given instances where in the case of officers similarly situated the respondents had permitted them to retire prematurely. The request of the petitioner has been rejected by the Adjutant General. It is not necessary to go in details the averments in the counter affidavit. The stand taken by the respondents is that the services of the petitioner are very much required and, therefore, the respondents have not permitted the petitioner to retire prematurely.

( 2 ) AT the time of arguments it was submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner Mr. R. P. Sharma that the Adjutant General is not the competent authority to deal with the request of the petitioner for premature retirement. The authority competent to deal with the same, according to the learned counsel, is the Central Governmnet. The learned relied upon Rule 16-B of the Army Rule

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