Disciplinary actions within Armed Forces require strict adherence to leave protocols, with absence without communication leading to dismissal.

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SAURABH BANERJEE JUDGMENT (ORAL

1. By way of the present writ petition, the petitioner seeks reinstatement in service, as also quashing of the impugned order dated 11.04.2016 passed by the Inspector General Frontier Head Quarter, Border Security Force (hereinafter referred to as “BSF”), Punjab, whereby the order dated 20.03.2015 of Deputy Inspector General Subsidiary Training Centre, BSF, Khadka Camp, dismissing the petitioner was affirmed, and the petitioner’s representation for reinstatement was rejected.

2. Succinctly put, the petitioner is a permanent resident of Village Dayalpur, P.O.-Mursan, District-Hathras, U.P. After completing the requisite formalities, the petitioner was appointed as a Constable (Woman) W.P.(C) 8098/2017 Page 1 of 7 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed in BSF vide appointment order dated 19.11.2014. Following her appointment, she was sent to STC, Kharkan, Punjab for basic recruit training.

3. During the course of training, the petitioner got sick and was admitted in STC BSF Hospital for medical treatment on 05.12.2014, whereafter, she applied, and was granted, four days earned leave by the competent authority with effect from 08.12.2014 to 11.12.2014. As such, the petitioner was required to rejoin services after expiry of the said four days. However, the petitioner failed to do so. In view of the petitioner’s overstay of her leave, the STC, Kharkan sent three communications dated 26.12.2014, 05.01.2015 and 12.01.2015 to the petitioner at her permanent address at Village-Dayalpur, P.O.-Mursan, District-Hathras as given by her at the time of her recruitment, asking her to report back to duty as soon as possible with all the documents pertaining to delay. However, the petitioner neither presented herself nor made any correspondence in this regard.

4. The petitioner being absent for more than thirty days, a Disciplinary Enquiry Committee was set up under Section 62 of the Border Security Act 1968, [1Hereinafter referred as “the BSF Act]. Accordingly, a Show Cause Notice dated 16.02.2015 was issued to the petitioner, asking her the reasons for her overstaying and present her defence, if any, within a period of thirty days of receipt thereof. Despite having received the same, the petitioner again failed to respond thereto. Resultantly, the petitioner, vide order dated 20.03.2015 of the Deputy Inspector General Subsidiary Training Centre, was dismissed from service and her entire period of absence from 12.12.2014 to 20.03.2015 was W.P.(C) 8098/2017 Page 2 of 7 Signature Not Verified

Digitally Signed

declared as “DIES NON”. Thereafter, the petitioner on 28.01.2016, filed a representation for reinstatement, which was rejected by the Inspector General Frontier Head Quarter, Border Security Force vide the impugned order dated 11.04.2016.

5. Mr. Abhinav Bhardwaj, learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted that after falling ill during the course of training, the petitioner applied for leave giving her matrimonial address @ Village-Ladam, Post Mandeka, District- Agra, Uttar Pradesh, and was granted earned leave of four days.

6. Mr. Bhardwaj then submitted that the petitioner vide letter dated 02.01.2015 sought further extension of leave on account of her ailing health. In fact, upon consulting with a gynaecologist, the petitioner came to know that she had conceived a child and was therefore advised complete bed rest, as a result of which, the petitioner was unable to rejoin her duty.

7. Moreover, Mr. Bhardwaj submitted that the concerned respondent erroneously sent all the correspondences at the petitioner’s parent’s address in Hathras, instead of her matrimonial address in Agra, where the petitioner was then residing, as also conveyed to the concerned respondent in her leave application. He also submitted that the petitioner’s parents, being uneducated, were un