No compromise with Army chief: Govt

Locked in a confrontation with Army chief Gen V K Singh, the government on Friday night ruled out any compromise with him over his age issue and left it to the Supreme Court to decide the matter.

Demonstrating its tough stance, the government also made it clear that there was no move to appoint Gen Singh as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), a post which is at conceptual stage and is proposed to be above the heads of the three Defence Services.

“No compromise formula is being worked out,” a government source said while rejecting reports which suggested that such a move was in the works.

There have been reports which claimed that discussions were being held to work out a formula to mollify Gen Singh and avert hearing of his petition by the Supreme Court.

The reports suggested that appointing Gen Singh as the first Chief of Defence Staff was one of the options being discussed with him.
The assertion came hours after Defence Minister A K Antony, breaking his silence on the issue, said he was “sorry and sad” over it and contended that the government will wait for the final decision of the Supreme Court which has been moved by the Army chief.

The apex court meanwhile dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO on the age row of Army chief General V K Singh noting that it was purely a service matter and that the aggrieved person had already approached the court.

Terming the PIL as “not maintainable”, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia expressed its displeasure over the petitioner Grenadiers’ Association’s decision to annex opinions of former Chief Justices of India (CJI) in the matter and directed the apex court’s registry not to entertain any petition carrying such advises by former CJIs in the future. “In our view, the writ petition filed at the behest of an association is not maintainable,” the court said.