In Brief
A former Indian Army officer, commissioned in 1988, was wrongfully court-martialed in 2004-05 and imprisoned. His conviction was annulled in 2013 with orders for 'all consequential benefits'. He sought promotion to Brigadier, arguing that his batchmates and juniors had achieved that rank. However, a new Selection Board assessed him against three contemporaries across six parameters (overall profile, lowest assessment, recommendations, course profile, course grading, and discipline). Though his overall CR profile marginally exceeded the lowest-empanelled officer, he scored lower on three other critical indicia. The Supreme Court upheld the Board's decision, holding that 'consequential benefits' means only salary and emoluments, not selection-based promotions, which depend on comparative merit assessed by expert military boards that courts cannot second-guess absent illegality or mala fides.
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