By IANS
New Delhi : Defence Minister A.K. Antony Tuesday distanced himself from a simmering age row that could impact on a three-star general tipped to take over as the Indian Army chief when the incumbent retires in 2010.
“There is no need for my intervention,” Antony told reporters here on the sidelines of a defence seminar.
“The file has not come to me. There are set rules to deal with such issues. The services will settle the issue,” the minister maintained.
The contentious issue relates to the date of birth of Lt. Gen. V.K. Singh, who currently commands the Ambala-based elite 2 Corps, one of the three premier strike corps of the Indian Army. In the normal course, he would have been the senior-most three-star officer when the present Indian Army chief, Gen. Deepak Kapoor, retires in 2010.
The discrepancy in his birth date now seems to have put a question mark on that.
According to records with the Adjutant General’s branch, Singh was born on May 10, 1951 while the records of the Military Secretary’s branch say he was born on May 10, 1950.
The Adjutant General’s branch maintains records of officers from the time they enter the National Defence Academy (NDA) or the Indian Military Academy (IMA). The Military Secretary’s branch keeps records of officers’ promotions and postings.
When the age discrepancy was pointed out, Antony’s office is believed to have asked for an explanation from the army chief’s secretariat, which in turn sought an explanation from the two record-keeping branches.
According to sources in the defence ministry, efforts are now being made to trace out Singh’s original Class 10 certificate to verify the exact year in which he was born.
Every prospective army chief first serves as a corps commander and then as an army commander. For this, Singh was to move to the Kolkata-based Eastern Command when its chief, Lt. Gen. K.S. Jamwal, retires in end-February.
“That is now on hold while the age issue is resolved. Should it emerge that Singh had falsified his records, he would be charged with impropriety and would lose out on becoming the chief,” an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.
If that happens, a dark horse would emerge to succeed Kapoor. He is Lt. Gen. P.C. Bharadwaj, who currently heads the Leh-based 14 Corps and was slated to head the Udhampur-based Northern Command that is responsible for guarding Jammu and Kashmir.
This move has also been mired in controversy as the current Northern Command chief, Lt. Gen. H.S. Panag, is being shifted to the relatively insignificant Lucknow-based Central Command to make way for Bharadwaj.
The army terms the transfer as “routine”. However, there are many who believe this is linked to two enquiries ordered by Panag into purchases of food and equipment under special powers granted by Kapoor when he headed the Northern Command.
Panag had sought and been granted an appointment with Antony to protest his transfer and the minister had promised to play the honest broker to resolve the issue.
The new controversy, however, means that all three postings – of Singh, Panag and Bharadwaj – are on hold – while the age issue is sorted out.