New Delhi:
A day after Pallam Raju accused the Army chief of setting "an unhealthy precedent," the Minister of State for Defence met General VK Singh. Mr Raju said yesterday that the General's decision to take the government to court to decide his age is damaging for both the Defence Ministry and the armed forces. Prime Minister Manmohan Snigh, who reportedly discussed the case with the Law and Defence Ministers earlier this week, refused to comment on the battle, describing it as "a sensitive issue."
General Singh filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday, stating that an Army Chief "has a right to retire with dignity." He says he accepts that it is the government's right to determine his tenure. But he argues that by refusing to accept his claim that he was born in 1951 and not 1950, the government is damaging his image among the public and his officers.
The dispute over the General's age has unfolded publicly in the last few months. There are conflicting dates of birth established in different documents - the government says those that list his year of birth as 1950 have been used to grant the Army chief several promotions, including the one that brought him to his current position.
The General, however, says that when he applied for admission to the National Defence Academy (NDA), he was 14, and wrongly entered 1950 instead of 1951.
His petition - not admitted yet by the Supreme Court - states that all he wants is for the records on him to be synced to reflect one date of birth. This, he says, has been misconstrued as an attempt to extend his term by a year. General Singh took over as Army chief in March 2010. He has to retire before he turns 62, or when he completes three years in office, whichever comes first. If 1950 is used as his birth date, his term expires at the end of May.