Manmohan steers clear of age row

A day before a petition relating to the dispute on date of birth of Army chief Gen V K Singh comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court,  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday stayed away from the raging controversy even though he described the issue as “sensitive.”

The Supreme Court will take up Friday a petition filed by the Grenadiers’ Association
seeking a declaration that Army chief’s date of birth was May 10, 1951 as mentioned in his school leaving certificate. Gen Singh himself, in an unprecedented action, dragged the government to the court on the age issue but the petition has not been listed before the court.

Prime Minister Singh, when asked about the controversy at a book release function, remarked: “It is a sensitive issue. I do not want to comment.” The Army chief asserts that his date of birth indeed is May 10, 1951 and not 1950 which the government maintains it is.

Defence Minister A K Antony stayed away from the debate for the second consecutive day and a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security where the age dispute was supposed to be discussed, had been deferred. However, his deputy, Pallam Raju on Wednesday described the move as unfortunate and not a healthy precedent.

On Thursday, the Army chief called on the junior defence minister though what transpired between the two remained unknown. It is understood that it was arranged to clarify things.

“It is an unfortunate development and it is not a healthy precedent either for the (Defence) Ministry or the armed forces... It is an unhealthy precedent. It does not augur well either for the Ministry or the forces,” Raju had said on Wednesday while reacting to a question on the issue.

The Supreme Court will  take up on Friday the petition filed by the Grenadiers’ Association.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia would hear the public interest
litigation filed by NGO through its president Col (retired) B S Koshal.

The petition sought a declaration to the government to “correctly determine the date of birth of Gen Singh as May 10, 1951 (mentioned in matriculation certificate) instead of May 10, 1950 (mentioned in UPSC application form) which has been illegally and erroneously amended by the government on the basis of opinion given by Attorney General and Law Ministry.”

Gen Singh has himself approached the court in the matter but his petition is yet to get listed.

Defence Secy confronted Army chief

Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma is believed to have adopted a confrontationist stand with Army chief General V K Singh over how the letter he wrote to Defence Minister A K Antony was leaked just after his petition seeking redressal over the age dispute was registered with the Supreme Court, reports DHNS from New Delhi.

It was barely minutes after he moved the apex court on Monday that Gen Singh shot off a letter to Antony explaining his position that he was forced to move legally against the government because of a pending public interest litigation filed by some retired Grenadiers which would have proved “insidious” and defeated the purpose of his step.

Government sources said that Sharma, who was called back from an official engagement in Malaysia so that the government could put all heads together to strategise its next move after Singh took the Centre to court, insinuated that the letter could have been leaked to the media by someone in the office of the Army chief.