DoB issue: Army's AG branch snubs MoD

A day before the Supreme Court is set to hear the plea of Army Chief Gen V K Singh on his date of birth, the Adjutant General's branch is learnt to have officially responded to the Ministry of Defence refusing to reconcile its records with that of the Military Secretary branch.

On January 23, the AG branch received an undated letter from the MoD to change its record showing Singh's year of birth as 1950. A mismatch between records kept at AG and MS is at the core of the age dispute. Sources later clarified that the letter was in response to a clarification, which the AG sought in August 2011.

The AG branch that comes administratively under the Chief of Army Staff, has stated on Thursday that it cannot reconcile the records now.

However, till late evening there was no official confirmation of the reply from the AG. The army chief held discussions with finance minister and government's main trouble shooter Pranab Mukherjee late in the evening, but details of the meeting were not known.

A bench of Justice R M Lodha and H L Gokhale is likely to hear Gen Singh's case on Friday. This is for the first time in independent India that a service chief has taken the government to the court, thereby directly challenging the government. The move has stymied the decision-making process in strategic matters.

Both camps have hardened their stance and are prepared to fight the battle in the court. While Singh has a series of official documents like school-leaving certificate, passport and driving licenses to back up his claim, the government's argument will centre on three crucial evidence including the UPSC form which Singh filled in his own hand at the time of his entrance in the National Defence Academy and the Army List that shows his year of birth as 1950.

The government's main thrust of argument will be that had Singh wished to correct his date of birth he should have done it within the first two years of his commissioning or even two years after the publication of the Army list in 1974-75.

Singh said it was an wrong entry in the UPSC form is an inadvertant mistake, but the government stated it was simply too late in the day to correct the date of birth records, which would have an impact on Army's succession plan. Attorney General Ghoolam Vahanavati opined the same.