Army Chief drags government to court

Asserting that he wanted to protect his integrity and honour, Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Defence Ministry's order determining his date of birth (DOB) as May 10, 1950, instead of treating it as May 10, 1951.

In his petition filed through his advocate Puneet Bali, the Army Chief, who is due to retire on May 31 this year, maintained that his DOB was already concluded as May 10, 1951 once the police verified it at the time of his joining the service.

Citing a catena of Supreme Court decisions, Gen. Singh said the DOB — May 10, 1951— mentioned in the Matriculation Certificate was sacrosanct and this had to be treated as conclusive proof. On the controversy as to how the dispute arose, he said when he was 14, he was asked to fill up a form about DOB particulars, in which he wrongly gave the DOB as May 10, 1950.

However, this was later corrected as May 10, 1951 and this DOB was mentioned in the Matriculation Certificate.

The controversy arose due to different sets of records maintained in the Adjutant General and Military Secretary branches of the Army headquarters. While the adjutant general's branch, which deals with pay, perks and pensions, maintains Gen. Singh's DOB as May 10, 1951, the military secretary branch, which deals with appointments and promotions, has his DOB as May 10, 1950 in its records.