Sukna land scam
Lt Gen Rath's court martial postponed
Press Trust of India

Lt Gen PK Rath in happier days and the board of Sukna land
Shillong, Sep 3: The Army has postponed Court Martial proceedings against Lieutenant General PK Rath for two weeks in the Sukna land scam on his request.
The proceedings were scheduled to begin here at the military station on August 30 but after the officer requested for postponement, the presiding officer Lt Gen IJ Singh ordered the General Court Martial (GCM) to assemble on September 14, Army sources told PTI.
The GCM has three Lieutenant General-rank officers in it. Rath along with three other Generals was indicted by an Army probe for issuing no objection certificates to private realtors for building educational institutions on a 70-acre plot of land adjacent to the Sukna military station in West Bengal.
After the Court of Inquiry submitted its report, disciplinary action was recommended against Rath and former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash and administrative action was initiated against Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali and Maj Gen PK Sen.
Halgali was recently promoted as Director General, Military Training, and posted to Army Headquarters here after serving as 11 Corps Commander in Jalandhar.
Summary of Evidence (SOE) against Prakash in the case is still continuing at Army's Eastern Command Headquarters in Kolkata.
Reprieve for Colonel in sexual harassment case : The Armed Forces Tribunal has asked the Army not to take action against a Colonel, who was tried by a General Court Martial (GCM) on alleged sexual harassment charges by a lady officer. Colonel Debasish Mitra was tried by the GCM on 12 charges after allegations of sexual harassment were levelled against him by Lieutenant Iman, the lady officer, during their deployment in counter-insurgency operations in the Kashmir Valley.
The GCM had acquitted him of 11 charges saying the witnesses had made false statements but was awarded "severe reprimand" for one charge which was to be confirmed by the Army Chief's office.
Mitra contended that before he could be informed about the confirmation of his sentence by the GCM, he was issued a show cause notice by the Army for the same charges for which he had already been tried by the GCM earlier.
Alleging that the Army was "bent upon" getting rid of him, the officer argued that "charges were not sustainable in the eye of law as the same had already been considered by the GCM and as such the show cause notice should be quashed."
Agreeing with his contention, the Tribunal Bench headed by Justice Sadhan Kumar Gupta and Lt Gen Madan Gopal said, "the show cause notice issued on behalf of the Chief of the Army Staff against Col Mitra is quashed and the Army is restrained from taking any action against the petitioner on the basis of such show case notice."
The officer is presently posted at the Kolkata-based Eastern Command headquarters. —PTI