New Delhi: Indian army chief General VK Singh has claimed that his acceptance of May 10, 1950 as his date of birth in 2008 was not a free admission but was made in a hurry and done under apprehension of some proceedings initiated against him.
CNN-IBN has got complete access to the writ petition filed by the army chief against the government in the Supreme Court wherein General Singh has claimed that the Military Secretary pointed the discrepancy in his date of birth for the first time after 36 years of service.
General Singh has contended that it shows the administrative inefficiency of the Military Secretary branch, adding that the government action is affecting his image.
The army chief has further asked the government to fix his date of birth and consequential claims thereafter.
Meanwhile, for the first time since the army chief went to court, the defence secretary is believed to have met General Singh and expressed Defence Minister AK Antony's strong displeasure at the leak of letters written by the Chief to the minister.
The meeting that lasted 20 minutes is being seen as a firming of the government stand against the chief.
During the meeting, Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma reportedly expressed unhappiness over the "unhealthy precedent" set by the head of the force by going to court.
The meeting came against the backdrop of unhappiness in the government over the Army Chief approaching the Supreme Court to settle his date of birth dispute.
"It is an unfortunate development and it is not a healthy precedent either for the (Defence) Ministry or the armed forces... It is an unhealthy precedent. It does not auger well either for the Ministry or the forces," Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju had told reporters earlier on Wednesday.
He was replying to a question on the sidelines of an NCC function here on whether the government is planning to send the Army Chief on leave or if it is looking at the possibility of appointing a new chief.
However, four former Chief Justices of India have backed General Singh, saying that he has been wronged in the age row.
In their opinion General Singh has been consistent on his date of birth since he joined the National Defence Academy (NDA).
While one former Chief Justice of India, Justice (retired) JS Verma was consulted by the Army over General VK Singh's age row, the other three advised the Army Chief.
According to the former Chief Justices of India the Military Secretary Branch recorded General Singh's date of birth wrongly as May 10,1950 and not as May 10, 1951. Opining that recording the wrong date of birth was the Military Secretary Branch's fault, they said that its conduct does not inspire confidence.
General Singh, a para-commando and veteran of 1971 Indo-Pak war, has been contending that May 10, 1951 should be treated as his actual date of birth as it was mentioned in his matriculation certificate but the Defence Ministry has rejected it as May 10, 1950 is the date entered in his UPSC form for the NDA.
If General Singh's date of birth is taken as May 10, 1951 then he will retire in March 2013 and if May 10, 1950 is accepted then his tenure will come to an end in May 2012. The difference of one year will have an affect on who will succeed him as the next Army Chief.
If he retires on May 31, 2012 then Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Bikram Singh will take over as the next Army Chief, but if he demits office in March 2013 then Northern Army commander Lieutenant General KT Parnaik could take over from him as Lt Gen Bikram Singh will retire later in 2012.
But if General Singh is removed or resigns before May 31, 2012, then Western Command Chief Lieutenant General Shankar Ghosh, who is the senior most serving officer in the Army, will take on as the 27th Chief of the Indian Army.
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