Cong top brass meets over Army chief's age row

Within hours of being criticised by the Supreme Court for mishandling the Army Chief Gen V K Singh age row, the top brass of the UPA government and the Congress party went to a huddle in yet another effort to find out a solution and decide the court-room strategy for the next day of hearing on February 10.

Defence Minister A K Antony briefed the Congress core group comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her political advisor Ahmed Patel and senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram in a late evening session at the prime minister's 7 Race Course Road residence.

Antony also had an one-one meeting with Pranab, but both ministers as well as officials remain tight-lipped.

One of the options on the table for the government is to quash the December 30 rejection of Singh's statutory complaint and subsequently argue the case on the basis of the July 21 Defence Ministry order, stipulating that 1950 has to be considered as his year of birth for all official purpose and no change in records are possible at this stage.

An out of court settlement can not also be ruled out though the chances are remote. The government had earlier filed a caveat in the Supreme Court requesting the court to hear out its side of the story before arriving at any decision.

The Supreme Court stated that the December 30 MoD order vitiated the process to determine the age of Gen Singh because it was based on the opinion of the same Attorney General who gave a similar opinion earlier on the basis of which the July 21 order was issued.

Soon after the apex court directive, union information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said, “As far as we know, his (AGs) legal advice was sought again as some new things had come up on the issue and placed before him. When an opinion is sought for the second time, naturally fresh material and points are put forth before the Attorney General.”