CWP No. 4129 of 2006 (1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 4129 of 2006 Date of Decision: 29.2.2008 Harwinder Singh ..........Petitioner Versus Union of India and others ........Respondents Coram: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MOHINDER PAL Present: Shri Sumit Malhotra, Advocate, for the petitioner. Shri Tribhuwan Dahiya, Advocate, for the respondents. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? HEMANT GUPTA, J. The challenge in the present writ petition is to the order (Annexure P.4) dated 22.11.2003 and the order in appeal dated 8.7.2004 (Annexure P.5), whereby the order of dismissal of the petitioner under the provisions of the Army Act, 1950, was passed against the petitioner. The petitioner, enrolled in the Army on 7.10.1993, has been dismissed on 22.1.2003, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 20 of the Army Act, 1950 read with Rule 17 of the Army Rules, 1954. The appeal has been dismissed, by finding the following lapses against the petitioner:- “(a) Closely associating with No. 1587303F Ex- Spr. Judge Singh of 105 Engineer Regiment, who was working for “Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and who has since been convicted on four CWP No. 4129 of 2006 (2) charges under Army Act Section 69 read with 3(1) (C) of the Indian Official Secrets Act, 1923. (b) Stole a marked exercise map of the Bridging Training Camp held during 1995 from the design Cell of his unit, photocopied and delivered the photostat copy of the map to Shri Satnam Singh and Shri Harbhajan Singh at Jammu. (c) Delivered a photocopy of a confidential file relating to military affairs to Shri Satnam Singh and Shri Harbhajan Singh, both of Khalistan Commando Force between 01 Jul, 1997 and 31 Dec, 1997. 3. Considering the above anti-national activities, the dismissal of petitioner administratively from service is commensurate with the gravity of the lapses and is just and legal. The submission of the petitioner for revoking dismissal and re-instatement into the service is not legally tenable.” It may be noticed that the basis of the said order of dismissal is the statement dated 15.6.2001, running into about 7 typed pages attached with the writ petition as Annexure P.1. On the basis of said confessional statement in respect of his role in the espionage activities, the order of dismissal has been passed. Learned counsel for the petitioner has vehemently argued that the confessional statement (Annexure P.1) is the result of torture and force when the petitioner was in custody of the Army authorities. It is further CWP No. 4129 of 2006 (3) argued that no Court Martial proceedings were conducted against the petitioner in which relevant evidence could be produced by the authority so as to provide a semblance of principle of natural justice to the petitioner. The confessional statement is not a short statement from which one could possibly infer application of force or result of torture. Statement of over seven typed pages cannot be but a voluntary act. Since the allegations against the petitioner are that of espionage, which is against the national interests, we do not find any ground to interfere with the orders passed by the authorities under the Act. Hence, the `present writ petition is dismissed. (HEMANT GUPTA) JUDGE (MOHINDER PAL) JUDGE 29-02-2008 ds