News
Conditional promotion for absent war-time officers
View(s):Army Headquarters has adopted a new policy in respect of promotions for officers who had been absent without leave (AWOL) before May 20, 2009; the date coincides with the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran and the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The LTTE leader was killed on May 19. The war years, an Army source said, saw a spike in officers and other ranks being absent without leave, especially as the war intensified in May, 2009.
In terms of instructions sent out by Major General N.J. Walgama, Military Secretary (on behalf of the Commander of the Army), officers in the rank of Majors and below will be considered for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel “if all other perquisites are completed.” However, they will not be considered for career courses/foreign visits/UN deployment. They will still be eligible for non-career courses with duration of less than 90 days.
Officers who have already been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and commanding a battalion will be promoted to the next rank of Colonel a day prior to their retirement. They will not be considered for further command or granted career or other courses exceeding 90 days.
The Army circular comes after a Board of Officers was named to recommend policy for promotion purposes since such criteria did not exist in an expanding Army. The policy has different criteria for different ranks depending on those who were AWOL for less than 14 days and between 15 and 21 days before 20 May, 2009.