Plea in Delhi High Court to declare awarding gallantry medals system to armed forces "arbitrary"

A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court requesting the court to declare the existing system of awarding gallantry medals to armed forces personnel “arbitrary.”

New Delhi, Sep 5: A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court requesting the court to declare the existing system of awarding gallantry medals to armed forces personnel arbitrary, alleging that deserving candidates have not been honoured by the system.

Since there is a lack of transparency in the selection process, there have been "serious cases of injustice being meted out to deserving personnel of the armed forces.". The petition is likely to come up for hearing next week, as per the PTI.

The petition, which has been filed by retired defence personnel, said gallantry awards are generally given for conspicuous acts of valour done by armed forces personnel during peacetime or wartime. It said all these gallantry medals are regulated wide various notifications issued by the office of the President of India from time to time, as to its form, selection criteria and benefits that will be given to the awardees.

It sought that the current system be declared arbitrary and unconstitutional on the grounds of opacity in functioning. "The extant mechanism that considers each act of bravery by armed forces personnel individually for award of a gallantry medal is undefined and opaque in its functioning. "Coupled with the absence of any mechanism for review of a wrong decision, it has led to serious cases of injustice being meted out to deserving personnel of the armed forces," the plea said. PTI