Army Chief age row: SC defers hearing to Feb 10
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The Supreme Court on Friday deferred Chief of Army Staff General Vijay Kumar Singh's writ petition that seeks to settle the dispute over his date of birth till February 10.
The apex court's expected ruling was deferred reportedly to give both sides some more time to sort out the matter.
Friday's hearing came a day after Gen. Singh met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee amid speculation that it was the government's last attempt to seek an out of court settlement.
Mukherjee had earlier led the government's efforts in seeking a compromise with the army chief to avoid a legal battle. The meeting took place in the backdrop of the government facing the flak in the Supreme Court in the 2G case.
The bench comprising justices R. M. Lodha and H. L. Gokhale will hear the case with no precedent. This is the first instance of an army chief suing the government.
The dispute is over the fact that General Singh maintains he was born on May 10, 1951. But the government has recorded his date of birth as May 10, 1950.
The reason for discrepancy is two sets of records held in two branches of the army headquarters -- the adjutant general''s office and the military secretary to the army chief''s office.
The government recognised May 10, 1950 as Singh's date of birth on the basis of a series of records, including a UPSC form filled by him before joining the National Defence Academy. It also has several other documents to argue that he was born on 1950.
The army chief, though, claims he was born in 1951, which has been recorded in his matriculation certificate - a legally acceptable document to establish a proof of age.
His complaint is that his age records were never reconciled by different army branches.
He claimed that the documents carrying the 'wrong' date of birth should have been verified with the matriculation certificate because 'there was a mistake' in the UPSC form. General Singh will be represented by senior advocate U. U. Lalit. (ANI)
Comments
Our politicians and the Babus
Srinivasan
03 Feb 2012 - 17:46
Our politicians and the Babus are upset that the General has gone to S.C to get his grievances addressed.They are not charging the general of furnishing 2 sets of DOB but want to justify the wrong recording by the army establishment is time barred and can not be corrected even if the General produces authentic proof from the hospital where he was born because the case is time barred.What they would have done if the Army record show erronously that he was born in 1952? Will they ask him to continue in service for one more year.The present Govt is messing up every aspect of good governance be it corruption be it dealing with honest and eminent scientists. They think that they are not answerable to the citizens and their grievances.Their word is law.
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