Union minister and former Army Chief V K Singh
Union Minister and former Army Chief General V K Singh has questioned the verdict of an Army court, that, while quashing a former General's court martial, has made some observations against him and ordered that he be paid compensation for "undue harassment and loss of honour."
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Gen Singh told NDTV Defence Ministry should appeal against the tribunal's judgement. "I don't think the court has gone into the validity of the action of General Rath at all... it is more concentrated on an individual which is me, which sounds very awkward," he said.
The Armed Forces Tribunal - equivalent to a High Court - has held that General PK Rath, court martialled in what came to be known as the Sukna land scam, is not guilty and all his benefits must be restored.
The inquiry into the alleged scam was initiated by General VK Singh, who was Eastern Army Commander then. He was the Army Chief when the Court Martial was completed.
The Tribunal allowed General Rath's petition in which he had alleged that Gen V K Singh had given "undue importance" to the case as he had a "serious grudge" against the then Military Secretary Lt Gen Avdesh Prakash for ensuring that the Army recorded his year of birth as 1950 and not 1951, which later meant that his tenure as Chief of the Army Staff would be reduced by eight months.
The Court of Inquiry had found Lt Gen Rath guilty of favouring the builder. According to Gen Rath's plea the then military secretary Gen Prakash was linked to the case because he had on an official visit to Sukna as military secretary allegedly suggested that an educational institution next to the cantonment would benefit the Army.
Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash too was court martialled in the Sukna case several months after Gen Rath was.
While acquitting Gen Rath, the tribunal also turned down a plea to appeal against the order. It said, "This is not a fit case to grant leave to appeal before the Hon'ble Supreme Court as it does not involve any question of public importance. As such the prayer is declined."
The tribunal also said that Lt Gen Rath "had suffered undue harassment and loss of reputation" and so "a cost of RS 100,000 is to be paid by the respondents within 12 weeks from the issue of these orders." Gen VK Singh is one of the respondents.
The Sukna land case pertains to a "conditional no objection" that Gen Rath gave in 2008 to a private builder for an educational institution to be built on land next to the headquarters of 33 Corp of the Indian Army which he was then commanding.
The tribunal noted in its judgement that some other officers who were part of the initial decision to granting a "no-objection certificate or NoC" for the educational institution, who were also found guilty in the Court Martial, were given "lighter sentences" than Gen Rath was. It observed that some of these officers "were even promoted by the Chief of Army Staff" General VK Singh but only "after statements were recorded by General Court Martial after setting aside their sentences."
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