Age row: Relief for Army chief as govt withdraws earlier order

FP Staff • February 10, 2012, 12:28:26 IST

In a major relief to the Army Chief of Staff, the Government has withdrawn it’s earlier order dated 30 December which had order rejected Army Chief General V K Singh’s statutory complaint on his age row.

Age row: Relief for Army chief as govt withdraws earlier order

Pushed on the backfoot, government today told the Supreme Court that it has withdrawnits December 30 order rejecting Army Chief General V K Singh’s statutory complaint for treating his date of birth as May 10, 1951 instead of May 10, 1950.

A Supreme Court bench of Justice RM Lodha and Justice HL Gokhale had given the government a one week deadline to withdraw its December 30, 2011 order. The deadline had been given to the government on 3 February.

The government had in the earlier order rejected the General’s request that his birth year record be changed from May 10, 1950 to May 10, 1951. The court said it had “prima facie” (on first look) found the order to be vitiated and said if it wasn’t withdrawn, the court would quash it.

During the court proceedings Attorney General GE Vahanvati had informed the Supreme Court about the government’s decision to quash the 30 December order. Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman had cited three letters of Gen Singh to say that he has been unequivocally given his personal rights.

This latest defeat will prove to be a major embarrassment to the government.

With inputs from PTI

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