Army Court Embarrassment for Former Army Chief VK Singh

New Delhi: In what could turn out to be an embarrassment for the Narendra Modi government, the Armed Forced Tribunal has held that Lt General PK Rath, court martialled in the Sukna land scam case, is not guilty.

It is embarrassing because former Army Chief General (Retd.) VK Singh - now a minister in the Modi government - had initiated an inquiry, leading to a General Court Martial and conviction of Gen Rath. Acquitting Lt Gen Rath, the principal bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal - equivalent to a High Court - turned down a plea for 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 court also said that Lt Gen Rath "had suffered undue harassment and loss of reputation by act of the respondents."

Lt Gen Rath had, in his plea, said that the Government and General VK Singh had wrongly accused and convicted him. In his petition, he had said the entire issue - investigation and court martial proceedings were actually linked to the age row of Gen (Retd.) VK Singh. (Indicted General Leaked Documents About Army Chief's Age)

The Tribunal said the conviction of Lt Gen Rath "if not compensated would be travesty of justice. Therefore, as an optional compensation for the harassment and loss of honour and name caused to the petitioner, a cost of RS 100,000 is to be paid by the respondents within 12 weeks from the issue of these orders."

The case goes back to 2008-09 when Lt Gen Rath was commanding the Sukna-based 33 Corps of the Indian Army. As Commander of Corps, he had allegedly given a No- Objection Certificate (NOC) to a private builder to construct an educational institution near the 33 Corps. Lt Gen Rath was accused and found guilty by the General Court Martial for favouring the builder when giving the NoC. (Sukna land scam: Army Court Martial orders 2-year seniority loss for Lt General P K Rath)

Letting Lt Gen Rath go, the Tribunal took note of the fact that some officers who were part of the initial decision-making of granting the NoC, although found guilty in the Court Martial, were given "lighter sentences". The Tribunal even 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."

The Tribunal also rejected the contention that although the Indian Army wanted to acquire the land, Lt Gen Rath had allowed a private builder to construct an educational institution.

It said no grounds were cited which justified the contention and observed that Lt Gen Rath had done nothing wrong. It also said that the charge against Lt Gen Rath that he had not followed the legal process correctly is "incorrect." The court also held that charges against Lt Gen Rath - of not informing the higher authorities, a major charge in the Court Martial - to be incorrect. On the contrary, it said, "Nothing has been brought before us to show that such a decision could not have been taken by Lt Gen Rath."

Speaking to NDTV earlier today, Gen (Retd.) VK Singh said, "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 also said the Ministry of Defence should appeal against the order.

On the other hand, Lt Gen Rath told NDTV that he felt vindicated. He said the "redressal process in the military needs to be fine-tuned so that no innocent suffers."

All eyes are on the Ministry of Defence headed by Arun Jaitley, arguably one of the best legal brains, and whether or not it actually challenges the order of the Tribunal.