SC rejects review petition on ex-Army chief's age row

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a review petition filed by Grenadier Association seeking reconsideration of the order dismissing a PIL relating to age row of former Army chief V K Singh.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice S H Kapadia dismissed the petition on the ground of delay and merit.

“We have gone through the review petition and the relevant documents. There is delay in filing the review petition. In our opinion, no case for review of our order is made out, both on the grounds of delay and merit; accordingly, the review petition is dismissed,” the bench, also comprising Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar, said.

The Haryana-based Grenadier Association, through its president Col (rtd) B S Koshal, sought the apex court’s  review of the January 20 order which had dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) as “not maintainable”.

The review petition challenged the apex court’s order that had directed the registry not to entertain a petition containing opinion of former Chief Justices of India.

“This order deserves review as it amounts to casting aspersion on the integrity of the retired judges,” the petition had said.

The Association had sought a declaration that the Army Chief’s date of birth was May 10, 1951, as mentioned in his school leaving certificate and not May 10, 1950, as claimed by the government.

Gen Singh, who himself dragged government to the apex court, could not get any relief as the apex court had on February 10 dismissed his petition and declared that his date of birth would remain May 10, 1950, in service records as claimed by the government.