By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Wednesday ended the uncertainty over the birthdate of Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh with parliament being informed that he would retire in eight months and 23 days.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said that Singh’s birthdate has been maintained as May 10, 1950 at the time of his selection as a corps commander in 2006 as well as his subsequent promotions as army commander in 2008 and army chief in 2010.
“Accordingly, he is left with 8 months and 23 days of service as on date,” the minister said, fixing the date of Singh’s superannuation.
Antony also said that a different date of birth finds mention in certain documents and Singh had recently filed a statutory complaint in the matter.
The army chief has sought a change of date of birth to May 10, 1951 in official records on the basis of certain documents with the army headquarters’ Adjutant General’s branch, which is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping records of personnel.
However, the army’s Military Secretary branch, which handles appointments and promotions, maintains May 10, 1950, as his date of birth.
Singh’s school leaving certificate, however, mentions 1951 as his year of birth, on the basis of which he wants the records set straight.
On behalf of the army chief, it is said by his friends and supporters that he had to “under duress” give a written undertaking to accept the date of birth fixed by the Military Secretary’s branch when it issued his promotion and appointment letters as corps commander and army commander.
Soon after he became army chief, Singh petitioned the defence ministry to correct the records as per his school leaving certificate, which he claims to be the only valid legal document to prove his date of birth as per legal opinion he sought from several former judges of the Supreme Court.
However, the ministry had rejected Singh’s plea and fixed May 10, 1950 as his date of birth for all official purposes in July, leading to him filing the statutory complaint and heading on a collusion course with the government on the issue.