A Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) has cashiered a Lieutenant Colonel from the Army Medical Corps and sentenced him to one-year rigorous imprisonment for financial misappropriation and administrative irregularities in the procurement of medical supplies for a military hospital in Jammu and Kashmir.Lt Col D Maji was tried on 14 charges under the provisions of Sections 52(a), 52(f) and 63 of the Army Act for making false statements, intent to defraud and acts prejudicial to good order and military discipline. The court found him guilty on five counts. The trial concluded in Nagrota (near Jammu) on August 28. The court’s findings and sentence are subject to confirmation by the higher authorities–in this case, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command.The misappropriation relates to 2018 and 2019, when the officer was posted at 166 Military Hospital. He served as the indenting officer for the procurement of medical supplies and was also the presiding officer for the technical and financial board proceedings.The Lieutenant Colonel had pleaded not guilty to the charges, contending that his actions had been bona fide and that documents relating to the case were forged and did not bear his signatures. He had earlier approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). While the AFT’s Principal Bench, headed by Justice Rajendra Menon, declined to stay the disciplinary proceedings against him, it directed that no final decision be taken in the matter until further orders from the tribunal.The SGCM, convened on the orders of Maj Gen HS Brar, General Officer Commanding, 10 RAPID, was presided over by Col RP Yadav, Commanding Officer of an Ordnance unit. Brig DK Ahluwalia (retd) was the prosecution counsel.According to the chargesheet, the officer, in his capacity as the presiding officer of the technical and financial boards, had on several occasions during 2018 and 2019 falsely projected urgent requirements for various medical supplies worth about Rs 3 crore. He was also accused of violating provisions of the Defence Procurement Manual, 2009, and wrongfully selecting and rejecting vendors, resulting in undue gains for certain parties.Sources said the total allocation for the procurement of medical supplies during the two-year period covered by the chargesheet was about Rs 30 crore. The chargesheet further stated that despite “noticing that his signatures had been forged during various technical board proceedings, he had improperly omitted to report the same to his superior officers”.This is the same case in which a Major General, then Commandant of the hospital, was cashiered from service and sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by a separate SGCM in July for misappropriation in the procurement of medical supplies worth Rs 11 crore. He had also approached the AFT to challenge his trial, which had directed that the SGCM’s orders not be implemented until further orders.