VK Singh loses age battle; Year of birth to remain 1950: SC

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It's a big blow for General VK Singh. The Supreme Court upheld the government's decision to treat 1950 as his year of birth after which the army chief withdrew his petition on the date of birth controversy from the apex court, reports CNBC-TV18's Ashok Bagriya.

So what does the verdict mean for the both the government and the general?

For Army Chief Gen VK Singh it was losing his final battle against the government. The Apex Court ruled in favour of the government saying May 10, 1950 would be his date of birth for service records.

In what was going to be a crucial day for both sides the government set the ball rolling by withdrawing the order on the statutory complaint of Dec 30. This was followed by some searching questions for the Chief's counsel.
The court wanted to know why the primary record for the general's date of birth with the UPSC was never corrected.

The court also observed that all basic documents when General Singh joined IMA and NDA contained 1950.

The court then observed that recognising 1950 was not grossly erroneous on part of the government.

Finally the Supreme Court bench told Singh to abide by his commitment and honour his letters of 2008 and 2009 in which he had accepted his date of birth as 1950, was an indication of things to come.

The bench asked the chief whether he would like to withdraw his petition or they would be forced to pass an order which was a clear sign. At about 2 pm he withdrew his petition but not before the attorney general told the Supreme Court that the government had never questioned Singh's integrity.

In the end, 1950 is Gen VK Singh's year of birth for service records just as the government had maintained.

The only silver lining for the chief are some observations from the court which said - 'We respect the pain in your heart. Final call is that of the government. Don't wash dirty linen in public. We have full faith in you.'

The Court also observed that it wanted to ensure that Singh continued to work as army chief as he has been doing.

The view is mixed as to whether today's order has indeed restored the honour and integrity that the chief was fighting for.

Today's order certainly is a sigh of relief for the government. The question now is whether Singh who raised the stakes in the first place will serve his full term till May 30 this year, or add another twist to the tale.