The officer, Lt Col J.S. Sekhon, had earlier been charged with six counts of intent to defraud under Section 52 (f) and one count of violation of good order under Section 63 of the Army Act. The GCM, presided over by Brig C.M. Nair, found the accused guilty on five counts.

The sentence has been sent to the higher Army authorities for conformation.The six-month long GCM, which was convened in March on the orders of the General Officer Commanding, No. 3 Division, assumes significance as the defence had raised objections to presiding officer Brig Nair being a member of the five-man court on the grounds that "he was biased against the accused". The objections were not brought up for hearing and summarily brushed aside.

While pleading non-guility, the officer had also, under Rule 49, objected to the "vague and incorrectly worded charges, which do not reveal culpability". The defence had also contended that were the repairs not required, the successive garrison engineers need not have executed the project.

It was alleged that during his tenure as Garrison Engineer at Leh during 1993-94, the officer had got some generator sets repaired, for which the parts used were spurious and the procurement rates were higher than market rates.

Routine vigilance checks had found some faults in the generator sets and a technical board was constituted to look into the matter. Based on the board's findings, a court of inquiry was ordered into the repair contracts and the officer was held blameworthy on 17 counts under Section 63.

The subsequent recording of summary of evidence, however, established that the rates quoted were correct and the spares were genuine. The charges were then reduced to seven, with the allegations that the contracts concluded were not required and were done so with the intent to defraud.