Army Chief got last 2 promotions on basis of 1950 DoB: Antony
Amid the raging controversy over the age of Gen V K Singh, Defence Minister A K Antony today said the Army Chief has a little over eight months in office as per his May 10, 1950 date of birth on the basis of which he got his last two promotions.
In reply to a Parliamentary query, Antony said the Army Chief has two different sets of dates of birth in official documents and has filed a Statutory Complaint on his age issue.
"The date of birth of Gen Singh has been maintained as May 10, 1950 at the time of his selection as Corps Commander in 2006 as well his subsequent promotions as Army Commander in 2008 and the Chief of Army Staff in 2010.
"However, a different date of birth finds mention in certain documents and the Army Chief has filed a Statutory Complaint in this matter," he said. In the Statutory Complaint, Gen Singh has petitioned the Defence Minister against Ministry's July 21 decision rejecting his contention of treating May 10, 1951 as his date of birth.
The Minister said as per his date of birth on May 10, 1950, "he is left with eight months and 23 days of service as on date." In the age controversy, on May 25, the Army Chief had filed a petition before the Ministry to treat May 10, 1951 as his date of birth but this was rejected.
While the Military Secretary branch records his date of birth as May 10, 1950, the Adjutant General's branch has May 10, 1951 in its documents. The Army Headquarters has said that Gen Singh's matriculation certificate, which shows his date of birth to be May 10, 1951, cannot be ignored while deciding the issue.
