Defence Ministry Norms Sent for a Toss

to Promote Army Officer

By abhay mokashi

In a rare move, the Defence Ministry has changed its standard norms for promotion, by holding a review three times to promote a senior medical officer of the Army Medical Corp, whose promotion was not cleared twice, as he failed to satisfy the Review Board as his confidential report was sub-optimal.
The case is of Major General Sarat Chandra Dash, who is currently posted in Udhampur, as Maj Gen (Medical). According to the general norm only one meeting of the Review Board is held for clearance of promotion to a senior rank for a single officer. The Review Board comprises the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force.  
The Board has the discretionary power to recommend the promotion in case the officer falls short of a few open reputation marks. In the case of General Dash, the Board did not recommend his promotion, based on his confidential report, which did not satisfy the Board.  
General Dash is said to be close to a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Odisha, both of them having studied medicine together. The rejection of Dash’s promotion was not appreciated by the leader and pressure was put on the Review Board to hold another meeting to consider the promotion of Dash to the rank of Lieutenant General, but yet again the promotion was not cleared on the same ground on which it was rejected the first time. Sources in the Defence Ministry said that the three Chiefs of Staff refused to give in to the pressure from different quarters to promote General Dash.  
However, the Review Board was forced to meet the third time and the promotion was cleared. The meetings of the Review Board, held three times to push Dash up the rank, were held in January, February and March. Sources say that the promotion, which is in violation of set norms, will come into effect on Thursday, March 9, 2023. It is believed that the Board was asked to ignore the confidential report and ensure the promotion.
General Dash is to retire on March 31, but on getting the promotion, he will get a one-year extension. The political powers have decided to appoint Lt Gen Dash as the Director General of Medical Services (Army).
By giving him the promotion, the Defence Ministry will not only promote an officer, who does not qualify for it, but another deserving and eligible officer will be denied the rank.  
Before giving Dash the promotion, lot of jugglery was done by the Defence Ministry to put pressure on the armed forces. As a result, officers of one service were posted to another. Lt Gen Arindam Chatterjee was posted as Director General Medical Services (Navy); Surgeon Vice Admiral Arti Sarin was posted as Director General Medical Services (Air Force) and Lt Gen Daljit Singh was posted as Director General Medical Services (Army), and officiating as Director General Armed Forces Medical Services.