Colombian Apex Court asks the military not to summarily discharge disabled soldiers (Reflective of the decisions of our Constitutional Courts)

As reported by the Global Military Justice Reform Blog, the Colombian High Court (the Apex Court of Colombia) has rendered a landmark decision wherein it has ruled that disabled soldiers cannot be summarily discharged from the military on the grounds of unfitness unless such an exercise is undertaken in an objective and fair manner with recorded reasons. The Court has also held that such soldiers should be retained in administrative jobs.

This is reflective of a landmark decision of the Delhi High Court, which, following a Supreme Court decision, had ordered the reinstatement (with full backwages and consequential benefits) of thousands of soldiers summarily discharged from service on medical grounds by the Army HQ in 2007.

The stark discrimination between civilian employees and military personnel in this regard, not only related to protection of service but also to pensionary benefits, has been discussed on this blog before.

Long live the Constitutional Courts!