Army Chief drags govt to Supreme Court on age issue

Army Chief Gen V K Singh today took the unprecedented step of dragging the government to the Supreme Court before which he has challenged its decision over his date of birth that will mean that he retires in May next.

Making it an issue of his "honour and integrity", Gen Singh filed a writ petition in the apex court after exhausting all statutory options within the Defence Ministry which had recently rejected his contention that he was born in 1951 and not 1950.

The petition challenges the July 21, 2011 order of the Defence Ministry which fixed the date of birth as May 10, 1950 and the December 30, 2011 decision by which his statutory complaint was rejected. He has sought a direction for declaring May 10, 1951 as the correct date of birth. The General's action is without parallel in the history of India's defence forces and is bound to cause acute embarrassment to the government besides raising concerns about the relationship between civilian authority and the Services.

There was speculation on whether the Army Chief would step down or proceed on leave as the Supreme Court deals with his petition, but there was no indication to this effect. Gen Singh is believed to have stated in his voluminous petition that the issue was not about his tenure but that of his integrity as head of the 13-lakh strong army.