Indian army chief files case against govt
Gen V K Singh
The Indian government yesterday filed a caveat in the Supreme Court against any ex-parte order on the petition filed by Army Chief Gen V K Singh challenging the decision over his date of birth.
An application was filed by the Ministry of Defence urging the apex court not to pass any order on Singh's petition without hearing it.
In an unprecedented move, Gen Singh had yesterday dragged the government to the Supreme Court on his age row saying it was an issue of his "honour and integrity".
He filed a writ petition in the apex court after exhausting all statutory options within the Defence Ministry which had recently rejected his contention that he was born in 1951 and not 1950.
The petition challenges the July 21, 2011, order of the Defence Ministry which fixed the date of birth as May 10, 1950.
He has sought a direction from the apex court for declaring May 10, 1951 as the correct date of birth.
If Gen Singh's year of birth is 1950, he will retire on May 31 this year and if it is 1951 he will demit office next year.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister A K Antony today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the matter relating to Gen Singh moving the apex court on his age controversy.
Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma, who was in Malaysia on a visit, was asked to cut short his tour and return home in view of the development related to Army Chief's action.
Meanwhile, main opposition BJP attacked the government for its "failure" to handle the age issue of Gen Singh.
"The government of India has displayed a serious failure of statecraft in the handling of the age-related matter of the Army Chief," said BJP's chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
On the other hand, ruling Congress party said it would have been had the army chief not approached the Supreme Court on his age issue.
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