Army promotions at law ministry's door for second opinion

New Delhi: Seeking to plug any legal loopholes in its policies after the age row involving General VK Singh, the defence ministry sought opinion of the law ministry on promotions of Brigadiers and Major Generals. The defence ministry has sent the file about promotion boards of officers to the law ministry and sought its opinion on the provision of awarding discretionary evaluation marks by senior officers under a new promotion policy, defence ministry sources said in New Delhi.[caption id=“attachment_220830” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Avoiding another legal tangle. Image courtesy PIB”] [/caption] The boards were held by the army in October last year for elevating officers from Brigadier to Major General and Major General to Lieutenant General with grading that includes discretionary marks. As per the evaluation policy, the Army Chief, the Vice-Chief and army commanders have the discretion of awarding up to five marks to a candidate being considered for promotion while the rest 95 are quantified on the basis of work and achievements and other parameters during the service period. Ministry sources said that in view of the date of birth controversy involving the army chief, the government is keen to ensure that there is clarity in all the policies followed by it and the three services. Over 40 Major Generals and 60 Brigadiers have been considered by the army boards for promotions. Last year also, the defence ministry had raised objections over the changes suggested by Army Chief General VK Singh in the promotion policies framed by his predecessor General Deepak Kapoor. PTI