Delhi HC Dismisses IAF Airman’s Petition for Study Leave at IIM

The Delhi High Court has recently dismissed an Indian Air Force (IAF) airman’s petition requesting permission to pursue higher education at an Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

A bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Manoj Jain stated that they were not inclined to grant the petitioner’s request for study leave.

Airmen in the Indian Air Force are responsible for tasks such as maintaining IAF inventory, runways, communication, managing human resources, security, firefighting, and driving special vehicles.

As per the IAF’s policy, study leave is only granted to officers who have completed 15 years of service, with the condition that their studies would benefit the force. The bench referred to a Supreme Court judgment which emphasized that the IAF had a specific policy for granting study leave, and any deviation from it was impermissible.

The Supreme Court had noted that lower courts might not be satisfied with the policy, but any modifications to it should be made by the IAF itself.

The bench cited the Supreme Court’s BK Verma case and stated that it could not grant study leave to the petitioner. Even if the court disagreed with the policy, any modifications to it could only be made by the Air Force, not the court.

The airman had approached the High Court after the Armed Forces Tribunal declined his interim application seeking permission to seek admission to IIM, Jammu, for higher education.

The airman had challenged the respondent’s policy in his petition before the tribunal, which resulted in the denial of permission to pursue the academic course. The petitioner had also sought permission to appear in the Common Aptitude Test (CAT-2022), but the application was rejected due to its non-permissibility as per the Air Force’s policy.

Despite not obtaining official permission, the petitioner still took the CAT-2022 and claimed to have qualified for admission. He sought leave from the force, or alternatively, discharge from the Air Force, to pursue the course, arguing that it was essential for his career progression.