New Delhi: The dispute between the chief of army staff and the government over his date of birth was resolved in the Supreme Court on Friday by the general withdrawing his case and the government saying it wasn’t questioning his integrity, thus avoiding further embarrassment for the Congress-led administration.
A file photo of Army Chief Gen V. K. Singh.
The judges said the question before the Supreme Court was not about when Gen. V.K. Singh was really born. It was about his “bureaucratic” date of birth as per the official records and whether Singh had made enough efforts to rectify this in time.
Eventually, the government prevailed by making a concession on a larger point—attorney general Goolam E. Vahanvati told the apex court that the government was not questioning his integrity. The resolution of the dispute in the government’s favour comes after a series of recent setbacks in the apex court related to the second-generation spectrum cases.
Vahanvati said the government was only opposing Singh’s petition on a matter of principle. Singh’s lawyer then withdrew the case and the court closed the matter. Singh’s year of birth as per official records will remain 1950, thereby leading to his retirement on 31 May this year, upon superannuation.
“In the course of hearing, the attorney general stated that the Union of India doesn’t question his integrity or bona fide. The government opposed his petition only on principle and it is not a reflection of its lack of faith or confidence in his ability to lead the army,” read the court order delivered by justices R.M. Lodha and H.L. Gokhale.
A senior army officer said Gen. Singh left for Jaipur on an official visit on Friday afternoon.
Unlike the hearing on 3 February, where the government was called out on shoddy procedure for passing orders against Singh, on Friday the court delved deep into Singh’s past as his counsel Uday U. Lalit showed various certificates and forms that Singh had filled during the course of his career.
The high-voltage hearing eventually wound down later in the day after the bench and the government agreed that neither Gen. Singh’s actual date of birth nor his conduct were being contested.
“We are not actually concerned with your actual date of birth,” said the court to Singh’s counsel. “We are concerned about whether your official DoB (date of birth) suffers from any legal infirmities.”
Singh contended that his matriculation certificate listed his date of birth as 31 May 1951, but he could not change it in the official records because he received the certificate only in 1971, by which time he had already enrolled in the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. For this he had to wrongly enter his year of birth as 1950, because he did not have his matriculation certificate and could not prove otherwise, explained Singh’s counsel to the court.
Singh had told the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to correct the year of birth. But it was not clear if he had persuaded the commission to follow through. “The important thing is whether the UPSC acted on your intimation,” observed justice Lodha.
The case finally ended with the court observing: “As a matter of fact, the question before us is not about determination of the petitioner’s actual date of birth, but concerns determination of DoB recorded in official service records. In view of the AG’s (attorney general) statement and the limited controversy, the petitioner doesn’t wish to press the matter further, petition is disposed off as withdrawn.”
“We are happy that the issue has been finally resolved and controversy put to rest,” the defence ministry said, reacting to the development, the Press Trust of India reported.
Singh had directly approached the apex court on 16 January, making him the first serving Indian defence chief to take the government to the Supreme Court on a service issue.
His writ petition had questioned the government’s decision to treat his date of birth as 10 May 1950 instead of 10 May 1951, as claimed by him on the basis of his matriculation certificate and other documents. Singh had said the matter was related to his “honour and integrity”. He questioned why the government had chosen to “change” his date of birth after he spent 36 years in service and was promoted throughout his career.
There was, in fact, a discrepancy in the defence ministry’s own records on Singh’s date of birth. While documents in the military secretary’s branch recorded it as 10 May 1950, those with the adjutant general’s branch put it as 10 May 1951.
Singh’s date of leaving office may affect the line of succession in the army. When he retires on 31 May, Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, currently serving as the eastern army commander, becomes eligible for the position of army chief. If he decides to resign before that date, Lt Gen. S.R. Ghosh, western army commander, could have a chance at making it to the top post on account of seniority. The government is, however, not bound to make the senior most officer the chief of army staff.
nikhil.k@livemint.com