Krishnaswamy

New Delhi, Sept. 30: Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy was censured when he was commanding an air force station in 1990, a document produced by the air force in Delhi High Court today showed.

The government showed the document after an Air Vice-Marshal contested that he could not be denied a promotion on the ground that he had been reprimanded during his career.

But the government and the air force contended that the case of the officer who has moved court for promotion to the rank of air marshal and that of the air chief who was censured when he was an Air Commodore 14 years ago were not similar.

The ?censure note? was presented before a division bench of Justices Vijender Jain and H.R. Malhotra and returned to air force officials after perusal.

The air chief, who was an Air Commodore in October 1990 commanding an air force station at Lohegaon near Pune, was censured after a crash of a MiG-29 aircraft that was operating out of the station under his command.

Krishnaswamy was served a censure by the Special Officer Administration after the mishap in Pune. IAF sources said the censure was ?not a letter? but ?a form of verbal criticism that was noted down? and that ?it had something to do with flight safety?.

But the Indian Air Force has contended that the reprimand served nearly a decade-and-a-half ago could not be used to justify Air Vice-Marshal Harish Masand?s claim to the rank of air marshal.

The record was produced before Delhi High Court after Masand contested on September 26 that if Krishnaswamy could be made air chief despite having been censured, he could be promoted to the rank of air marshal.

Sources said the ?censure note? was only presented in court and was not subjected to judicial consideration.

IAF sources said the two situations were different because ?censures? had periods of validity ranging from six to 12 months, depending on the authority of the reprimanding officer. During the period of validity of a censure, it can have a bearing on an officer?s career prospects if his case is considered by a usual promotion board. But only a special promotion board decides on appointments to the rank of air marshal, when a candidate?s entire career record is considered.