Dr. Manish Kumar
This is historic. The government of India and Army Chief stood in front of each other. The tussle over the Date of Birth (DOB) of Army Chief was dragged to the Supreme Court of India. The government was rapped by the court for the way it has handled Army Chief General VK Singh’s age case, saying the entire process of deciding his year of birth was vitiated.
The discrepancy in the highly decorated soldier’s date of birth stems from two sets of records with the Adjutant General’s and Military Secretary’s branches of the Indian Army.
The defence ministry had in December rejected the General’s statutory complaint on setting his year of birth as 1950, going by which he would have to retire May 31 this year. The government had also stated last July that his date of birth is May 10, 1950.
Both the orders were issued on the basis of opinions from Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati, the government’s highest legal officer. An apex court bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and H.L. Gokhale observed that it found an “administrative defect” in the decision-making process on Singh’s age. It questioned how the same legal officer could be asked for advice twice over on the same issue.
They said the material on record “will not withstand the test of principle of natural justice and principle of ultra vires”.
The judges gave the option of withdrawing the December order to the government after Vahanvati contended that the complaint filed by the army chief was not maintainable.
They said the ministry could revise the order based on an independent legal opinion or the court will quash it.
The court also asked Singh’s counsel to decide if it wants to challenge in the apex court or lower courts, including Armed Forces Tribunal. Singh’s lawyer Puneet Bali refused to interpret the court’s observation, saying the matter was subjudice.
Nothing can take away from General Singh’s ability and accomplishments. A highly decorated 1971 war veteran is widely recognised as a brilliant strategist and as a reform-oriented officer who tried hard to restore the image of an Army whose image had been blighted by corruption scandals such as Adarsh and Sukna.
In a way, the Supreme Court has pulled off a diplomatic coup. By ensuring that the petition is withdrawn, it has avoided the ugly situation of having to pass an adverse order against the Army Chief. At the same time, having highlighted his commitment to the nation, the Court prevailed on the Centre to withdraw its December 30, 2011 order that had rejected General Singh’s complaint against fixing his date of birth as May 10, 1950.
In a system where promotions and retirements are determined substantially by date of birth, doing so would have encouraged others to seek changes in their dates of birth. Perhaps the court was cognisant of the fact that when General Singh retires it has implications for the promotions of other senior Army officials, apart from his successor. All in all, the Court found the best way out of a tricky impasse.
Since last few months ‘Chauthi Duniya’ is ferreting out several aspects. ‘Chauthi Duniya’ has divulged regarding this case corruption, conspiracy, appointment of officials sale and purchase of weapons.
‘Chauthi Duniya’ has already revealed the question raised in Supreme Court. All the documents and truth is that the DOB is 10 May, 1951.
We have several facts hidden by government that we are presenting as an evidence to Apex court of India. In year 1996, Col. Ramesh Chandra Joshi had to face the similar fate. He received an order of retirement through a letter from Military Secretary Branch.
On Adjutant branch his DOB was clearly mentioned as November 25, 1945. Col Joshi sent a letter to MS branch but he did not receive any reply. According to an order he had to retire on 30th of September, 1996. When he was not left with any alternative he had to contact Army Chief.
He received a message right from head quarter that carried information to cancel the previous order. Further it was mentioned that his DOB is now considered as 25 November, 1945. And he should continue his service till next order. Similar is the case of General Singh.