An Army Service Corps officer's plea claiming he should not be posted in operational areas to fight the enemy if he has been classified as a non-combatant, has prompted the Supreme Court to seek the government's response. <br/><br/>A bench of Justices R F Nariman and S K Kaul issued notice to the Centre and sought its reply in four weeks on the petition of Army Service Corps (ASC) Major Amod Kumar against his posting to counter-insurgency unit Rashtriya Rifles, a combat unit. <br/><br/>The petitioner contended, Army could not be permitted to take a dual stand treating an ASC officer as operational for postings, but branding him a non-combatant for promotion purpose. <br/><br/>His petition said, Services officers are routinely deployed in operational areas despite the Army authorities holding them to be non-operational. <br/>