New Delhi : The government Friday told the Supreme Court that it had withdrawn a Dec 30 order rejecting a complaint from army chief Gen. V.K. Singh against May 10, 1950 being considered as his birth date.
Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati told the court that the government had acted in response to a Feb 3 apex court directive.
The court had then said that the Dec 30 order was “vitiated” by opinion given by Vahanvati.
Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice H.L. Gokhale had also said that it was the attorney general’s opinion in July 2011 that led the government to reject the army chief’s request on his age row.
The latest move is seen as a second consecutive legal win for the army chief who has claimed that the fight for his age concerns his “honour and integrity”.
While the army chief maintains that he was born in 1951, the government insists he was born a year earlier.
The discrepancy was brought up by the army’s Military Secretary branch in 2006 when Gen. Singh was being considered for promotion as corps commander.
Since then, all promotions of Gen. Singh, including as army commander in 2008 and army chief in 2010, were made on the basis that he was born in 1950.
If he is seen to be born in 1950, Gen. Singh would have to retire in May this year. If his submission of 1951 is accepted, he would get an extension till March 2013.
IANS
