General VK Singh loses age war, withdraws petition

Mangalore Today / NDTV

New Delhi, Feb 10: Army Chief General VK Singh has had to back down in his confrontation with the government on the controversy over his date of birth. The two-judge bench of Justice RM Lodha and Justice HL Gokhale on Friday upheld the government decision on his age while hearing General Singh’s petition and directed him to accept May 10, 1950, entered in his Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for admission to the National Defence Academy, as his date of birth for service matters.

The apex court told the Army Chief that he had to abide by his commitment and honour his letters of 2008 and 2009 accepting the date of birth as May 10, 1950, and he cannot resile on it now, forcing General Singh to withdraw his petition.

 

The petition was withdrawn after Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati told the apex court that the government had never questioned the bonafide or integrity of General Singh and contesting the petition did not reflect any lack of confidence in the Army Chief.

General Singh’s counsel UU Lalit told the court after Vahanvati’s statement that his client did not wish to press the matter any further in the court. The apex court also asked the General to give an undertaking that he would accept his date of birth as May 10, 1950 within the next 48 hours.

With the Supreme Court disposing off the case, General Singh would complete his tenure on May 31, 2012 and retire on the same date, brining to an end a raging controversy.

Earlier, apex court had given General Singh an option to withdraw his petition or else an order would be passed on it while making it clear that that no prejudice was done to General Singh and the government decision on his date of birth will continue to be May 10, 1950.

Earlier, Vahanvati had told the bench that even though the government was resisting General Singh’s plea, it was not against the highly decorated soldier.

General Singh’s other lawyer Puneet Bali said that the petition was withdrawn as the Army Chief was fighting for his honour and integrity. Claiming that the petition was not about General Singh’s tenure, Bali said that the petition was only about determining the correct date of birth.

"The Government of India and the General sorted out the matter gracefully and amicably. Right from the time the petition was filed in the court, it was a matter of integrity. This petition was not meant for extension of service. We are satisfied with the court’s ruling as the honour and integrity (of the General) has been restored. The honour and integrity is restored, and it wasn’t meant to be beyond that for us. The matter has been amicably solved and we have withdrawn the matter," said Bali.

Adding that "this is the end of the matter", he said that they don’t plan to agitate further on the matter.

While observing that the court respected the "pain in your heart", the judges asked General Singh not to wash dirty linen in public and added that the government had full faith in him. The court added that no prejudice was done to the Army Chief in the case.

"We want to ensure that General Singh continues to work as Army Chief as he has been doing," the court said while pointing out that the General’s writ petition was not for determination of his date of birth but for recognition of date of birth in the official records.

The apex court said that looking into constraint of judicial review, the decision of government on General Singh’s date of birth would continue to be there.

General Singh’s date of birth in Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) records is May 10, 1950 while he claims that he was born on May 10, 1951, which is also mentioned in his matriculation certificate. The court told the General that the UPSC document was the most relevant document for recognition of age.

The judges questioned General Singh on his petition, asking him why he did not get his date of birth corrected with the UPSC that had recorded it as May 10, 1950. General Singh was also asked what made him fill the Indian Military Academy form mentioning his date of birth as May 10, 1950.

The bench pointed out that all documents at threshold when General Singh joined the National Defence Academy and the IMA recorded his date of birth as May 10, 1950, which the Defence Ministry maintains is the official records.

Observing that all threshold documents show General Singh’s date of birth as May 10, 1950, the judges said that it was clear from voluminous documents that General Singh’s date of birth as May 10, 1951, but the question was that in primary documents his DoB was May, 10 1950 and it would be taken as a final date for service matters.