Army Chief was born in 1950, not 1951: Defence ministry

Ending the long controversy over Army Chief VK Singh’s date of birth, the home ministry on Thursday decided that he would retire in May next year. The ministry held that his date of birth is 10 May, 1950. Army records have two different years of his birth, one 1950 and the other 1951.

Singh, who has been maintaining that the actual year is 1951, was expecting to retire in May 2013. Defence Minister AK Antony went by the record with the military secretary’s branch while taking the call.

The Army Chief may move the court against the decision. On Wednesday, he had sought legal opinion from former chief justice of India VN Khare.

The controversy, the first of its kind in the Army, began in 2006 with the detection of two separate years of birth. The documents of the military secretary’s branch recorded the year as 1950, while the adjutant general’s branch put it as 1951. Singh had taken over his present position on the basis of records with the former.

His matriculation certificate puts the date of birth as 10 May, 1951. However, Singh’s application form for admission to the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy dossier put it as 10 May, 1950.

Earlier, the law ministry had asked the defence ministry to close the case since Army rules debar any corrections in date of birth after two years of joining service.

Army chief to retire in 2012