Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Keep morale of Army high

The controversy over Army Chief General V K Singh’s date of birth at the last stage of his illustrious career appears to be belittling the institution of army by the government. The ministry of defence has awakened to the discrepancy in the date of birth after 36 years of Gen Singh’s career in army.
The date of birth recorded in the certificate of matriculation has been recognized as final by none other than the highest court of law of the nation. The ministry of defence pleads that in the entrance form for NDA (National Defence Academy) Examination the date of birth of Army Chief Gen V K Singh has been entered as 10th May, 1950 while it is recorded as 10 May 1951 in matriculation certificate.
During his illustrious career in army, 1971 Indo-Pak war scarred Gen Singh has got several promotions but at no point of time the objection to difference in date of birth recorded at two different places was raised by the ministry of defence. Dragging the Army Chief in age controversy by the ministry of defence will certainly the lower the morale of 13 lakh Indian army personnel under him. Though the Government has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court against any ex-parte order on the petition of Army Chief Gen Singh challenging the decision over his date of birth, Gen Singh has rightly moved the apex court to set the matter right to keep his honour and integrity in tact.
An application was filed by the Ministry of Defence urging the apex court not to pass any order on Singh's petition without hearing it. Gen Singh had taken the unprecedented step of dragging the government to the Supreme Court on his age row saying it was an issue of his honour and integrity.
He has 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 21st July 2011 order of the Defence Ministry which fixed the date of birth as 10th May 1950 and the 30th December 2011 decision by which his statutory complaint was rejected. He has sought a direction for declaring 10th May 1951 as the correct date of birth. Army Chief Gen V K Singh took the unprecedented step of dragging the govt 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 on Monday after exhausting all statutory options within the Defence Ministry which had recently rejected his contention that he was born in 1951 and not 1950.


It is for the first time that the Army Chief has to go to Supreme Court to protect the prestige and honour of the Indian Army. The army personnel keep the honour of the nation above everything. They sacrifice their lives to keep the honour of the nation intact. To keep army in its pristine glory, the Government of India must take initiative to settle the age controversy immediately.
As in the matter of service the matriculation certificate age is final, Gen Singh must be allowed to retire according to it. It gives him only a year of service. Gen Singh must fight the legal battle to keep the morale of army personnel under him very high. He has served the nation with dedication and devotion not found in most of the civil servants. The ministry of defence may treat the discrepancy in his date of birth as typing mistake. There is every likelihood that the date of birth in the form of NDA for entrance test may have been mistyped, resulting in the mistake. Honour of Army must not be affected at any cost.

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