Firoz.T.Totanawala
The Bangalore Metro Reporter
1st March 2012 issue-
THE CALENDAR WAR!
THE DoB CONTROVERSY OF AN ARMY OFFICIAL!
The Date of Birth issue of an army officer has assumed dangerous
proportions and has threatened the harmony between army and the government. The
Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of Gen. V.K.Singh for change in his
date of birth from 10-5-1950 to 10-5-1951.
It all began when V.K.Singh, the Chief of Army Staff, petitioned
the government to restore his original date of birth to 1951 instead of the
official records of 1950. If the official DoB is considered, Singh should
retire in a couple of months. But, if the government agrees to his plea, then
he would have one more year of service which implies the denial of promotions
to the officials who were waiting.
One fails to understand why Singh petitioned the change in his
DoB from 1950 to 1951 and that too at the end of his career. And when the
Government refused to accept, he simply approached the Supreme Court which
admitted his petition. In fact, the government tried to convince Singh to
withdraw the plea, as it will have adverse effects on the officials selected
for promotion after his retirement. But when nothing worked, the government
acted tough.
The government ordered the Army Record agency to record his DoB
as 1950. The Supreme Court while hearing the argument took the government to
task for its action in this regard. It castigated the government and gave a
week's time to settle the matter. But there was no meeting point between the
government and Singh. While Singh stuck to his 'honour' stance, the government
never moved from its stand that Singh's date of birth is 1950 and not 1951.
It may be recalled that in 2009, Singh had raked up this issue
and the defense ministry had taken action by constituting a committee to arrive
at a conclusion. In fact, Singh had given an undertaking that he will abide by
the decision of the committee, whatever may be its conclusion. The committee
after going through documents had concluded that his date of birth was 1950 and
not 1951. Even his school records show the year as 1950. Then, Singh as
admitted by him should have accepted the verdict honourably. But, he remained
quiet while he was appointed the Chief of Army and while he was to retire in a
couple of months, he staked his claim to the year 1951 instead of 1950, to get
one more year of service!
Singh also enlisted the support of the media which printed stories
about his honesty and integrity. There were also stories dubbing Singh as an
upright official who rubbed the political masters the wrong way to prevent few
scams in purchases worth hundreds of crores. There were also rumous that some ministers are against him because he scuttled
their attempts to make money in many multi billion defense deals.
The government was definitely embarrassed by his attempts at
self glorification. The government also tried its best to keep the issue out from the political background, but the arrogant
attitude of Singh came in the way. Finding no alternative, the government took
a firm stand to effectively counter his plea in the Supreme Court. It clarified
it stand to the court to go with the official records which showed 1950.
It submitted the documents to the Court, the previous correspondences and also
his undertaking before the probe committee where he agreed to abide by the
verdict.
The Supreme Court then took Singh to task and posed many
embarrassing questions on his conduct in the matter all these years. How can a
person who gave an undertaking to honour the verdict of the committee go
against the verdict after two years? The Court on the other hand also praised
his service to the army and the country, but, made it clear that his birth date
stands as 1950. In fact, Singh also pleaded to take voluntary retirement if the
Court allowed 1951 as his date of birth to imply that he is not hungry for
power, but it did not cut much ice. The Court asked him to withdraw the
petition which if he does not, will force the court to hear the matter in
detail and proclaim its judgment. Nobody was in doubt about the Court’s
judgement, in case Singh continued the petition. Singh therefore withdrew the
petition and his date of birth stood at 1950.
Thereafter, the Central Government also respected his services
and prevailed upon him to continue in service till his retirement and not to
resign over humiliating Supreme court’s order!
Arguably,
the courts do not entertain petitions regarding the change of DoB and dismisses
the same. But the Supreme Court did admit and entertain the petition of Singh
and a minor issue of change of DoB featured in headlines.
That is all.
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