Thiruvananthapuram:
After dragging the government to Supreme Court, Army Chief General VK Singh today said the controversy over his date of birth could have been "avoided by everybody."
"I think it was something that could have been avoided," General Singh, who is retiring this month end, told reporters who asked him how he looked back at his age controversy.
Asked if he meant the controversy could have been avoided by he himself and others, he said, "by everybody".
The Supreme Court had in February upheld the government's decision on General Singh's age issue, saying it was not in favour of entertaining the Army Chief's petition that his date of birth should be treated in official records, as May 10, 1951.
General Singh had taken the government to court - the first serving military chief to do so - in the hope of establishing that he is correct in claiming that he was born in 1951, not 1950. Documents with the Army reflected both dates. In his petition in the Supreme Court, he had asked for an explanation of why his claim that he was born in 1951 and not 1950 had been rejected by the Ministry of Defence.
However, in its verdict, the Supreme Court had ruled that the government decision on General Singh's date of birth will apply to his service matters, forcing him to withdraw his petition.
After the Supreme Court's decision, Defence Minister AK Antony had referred to the row as an "unfortunate controversy".