Away from the mainstream gaze and tumult over Section 66A, on March 11, defencepersonnel, military veterans and their families were declared lesser citizens — lesser than what they already were. On that day, based on an appeal filed by the last government but prosecuted by the current one, the Supreme Court declared that highcourts would not entertain challenges to the orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), thereby effectively making the said tribunal the first and last court for litigants, since, according to provisions of the AFT Act, an appeal anyway does not lie even with the SC as a matter of right, unless there is the exceptional involvement of a “point of law of general public importance”.
The SC, based on self-deprecating arguments put forth by the army and the defenceministry, also adverted to Article 33 of the Constitution, which states that fundamental rights of defence personnel can be restricted or abrogated. Needless to state, from the celebrated Kesavananda Bharati case onwards, it is well appreciated that restrictions are limited to maintenance of discipline while performing duties, and extend to other uniformed forces too.
