HC reserves order on cross-country marriage plea

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday reserved its order on an appeal by the Indian Army, challenging a single judge order directing it to consider the application of an officer seeking to relieve him from service so that he can marry a Sri Lankan national.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna reserved the orders.

The appellant, Major Vikas Kumar of Corp of Signals, a resident of Koramangala, wanted to marry Arnila Ranamali Gunaratne, an M Phil student in English literature and a resident of Koramangala.

Trouble started for the Major and his girlfriend when he sought permission from his higher-ups to marry her. The application was rejected by the Army on September 19, 2011, stating that the application was not correct.

When the Major moved the High Court, single judge Justice B S Patil, on December 7, 2011, admitted his petition and directed the respondents (Army) to consider his application and relieve him.

When the Army did not respond to the directions, the petitioner filed another petition which came up for hearing before the High Court bench of Justice Nagmohandas, who, on June 18, 2012, quashed the Army order rejecting his application, allowed the petition and the respondents were given liberty to take appropriate action according to Army rules.
However, the Army appealed against the single judge order, which came up for hearing before the division bench headed by the Chief Justice.

During the hearing, the counsel for the Union government Aniyan Joseph submitted that the application of the Major was not considered by his superiors because the girl had not given her consent to take up Indian citizenship and that the Major might end up being relieved without terminal benefit.