New Delhi:
In a setback to Army chief General VK Singh, Attorney General GE Vahanvati has said no to any change in General Singh's date of birth and that his complaint filed under the Army Act is not maintainable.
The Attorney General also said that the matriculation certificate cannot be the sole basis on which the date of birth can be sought to be changed at this stage.
The Attorney General said that May 10, 1951 cannot be held valid as the verified date of birth at the time of commissioning is May 10, 1950. General Singh has consistently claimed that he was born in 1951 and not 1950 as maintained by the Ministry of Defence.
There was no UPSC endorsement except a certification by the complainant, the AG office added.
The Attorney General ruling came in negative despite the Army's Adjutant General-Recruitment branch confirming in May 1971 that UPSC had verified his date of birth while processing Gazette notification for the commissioning.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan today recused itself from hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by former Army personnel on the controversy over General Singh's age.
Different records within the Army show May 10, 1950 and May 10, 1951 as the Army chief's date of birth.
The biggest implication is that the year of birth will determine when the Army chief will retire. According to the Defence Ministry's stand, this would be in 2012. If it had accepted General Singh's claim, his tenure would have stretched to 2013.
The petition will now come up for hearing before another bench of the Supreme Court in January.
After the controversy over his age, General Singh had argued that that the confusion arose from a form which he filled when he was 15 years old. The clerk handling his papers for the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) exams listed his age as 16 instead of 15. This was the application form for the National Defence Academy, which documents the General joining the Army.
All his promotions were, however, decided on the basis of him being born, as he said, in 1951.