Gen Singh’s appointment as the next army chief was approved by the appointment committee of the Cabinet on Thursday. Commissioned into Rajput Regiment in 1970, the infantry officer will remain as chief for the next two years.
Interestingly, Gen Singh – currently commander of the eastern army command, Kolkata – is allegedly engaged in a tussle with Gen Kapoor for punishing four top army officers, indicted in a land scam next to the headquarters of 33 Corps in Sukhna.
Gen Singh presided over the Court of Inquiry that found prima facie evidence on the involvement of four army generals, including Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, the current military secretary and one of the principal staff officers to the present army chief Gen Kapoor.
While the CoI recommended disciplinary actions against all four, Gen Kapoor has overruled the CoI suggestions by recommending disciplinary action against only one officer Lt Gen P K Rath and administrative action against the remaining trio, including Gen Prakash.
Because of different treatment meted out to the implicated officers, the South Block is agog with speculations on a rift between the present army chief and his successor.
Talking to the media last week, Gen Kapoor, however, asserted that he would continue to be the boss till he retired. He made it clear that in the hierarchy of the armed forces a junior officer (Singh) will have to always obey a senior officer’s (Kapoor) orders.
The legal branch of the army, meanwhile, is torn between the two top brass.
