You have to honour your letters of 2008, 2009 accepting May 10, 1950 as DoB, Supreme Court tells V.K.Singh
In a setback to General V.K. Singh, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to intervene in his plea, pointing out that the Army Chief, who accepted the government's decision in determining his date of birth as May 10, 1950 on three occasions, could not go back on his commitment. His writ petition was disposed of as withdrawn.
A Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and H.L. Gokhale, however, made it clear that the question raised by Gen. Singh was not about the determination of his actual DoB but it concerned the recognition of a particular DoB by the Defence Ministry in the official service record.
The Bench recorded Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati's statement that the government had not questioned the Army Chief's integrity or bona fides. It was resisting the petition as a matter of principle and doing so would not mean lack of faith in his ability to lead the Army, Mr. Vahanvati said. “We hope and pray this won't be the end of his service.”
The Bench said that in view of the AG's statement, counsel for the petitioner did not want to press the matter further and the writ petition was disposed of as withdrawn.
The Bench declined counsel Uday Lalit's plea that General Singh's DoB be treated as May 10, 1951. It, however, made it clear that the disposal of the petition would not cause any prejudice to the Army General and the government decision on his date of birth would continue to remain. In view of this, he will have to retire on May 31, 2012.
Earlier, when the hearing resumed in the morning, the AG informed the court that the government's December 30, 2011 order rejecting Gen. Singh's statutory complaint on the age issue might be treated as withdrawn. He, however, said the government stood by its July 2011 decision to treat Gen. Singh's DoB as May 10, 1950.
Justice Lodha told counsel that the UPSC and IMA forms had recorded Gen. Singh's DoB as May 10, 1950. Even in the Presidential order of 1974-75, when the Army List of Commissioned officers was published, “your DoB is shown as May 10, 1950. We are not questioning your efforts to reconcile the records. You have to abide by your commitment and honour your letters of 2008 and 2009 accepting the date of birth as May 10, 1950.”
Unfair criticism
Justice Gokhale told counsel: “The government gave you an opportunity. It is not fair to criticise the Defence Ministry. The matter was treated as closed. They [government] made you Chief of the Army. They could have said ‘we don't need such a person'.”
Justice Lodha told counsel that the court could interfere in such decisions only if the order suffered from perversity or it was grossly erroneous. “We don't think in this case we should interfere. We want to ensure [that] as Chief of Army you continue to serve the country as you did for 38 years. This verdict should not come in your way. Wise men are those who move with the wind. We take pride in having [an] officer like you. Credit must go to you.”
Keywords: Army Chief age row, General V.K. Singh, Army-Defence Ministry ties, Armed Forces, Indian Army, Army modernisation, UPSC
Estoppel: When one person has, by his declaration, act or omission, intentionally caused or permitted another person to believe a thing to be true and to act upon such belief, neither he nor his representative shall be allowed, in any suit or proceeding between himself and such person or his representative, to deny the truth of that thing. [Sec. 115, Evidence Act] Can't we have judgments based on law, and not on drama?
i am sad to read the comments grossed upon the courts verdict, some even mistaking the apex court as a lower court! let us be honest in our comments about the apex court and faith in our most learned judges. our general singh is most honest in serving the nation at most difficult times and of course the bureaucracy could have advised him properly or told him to accept the date and promise to reward him suitably further if required. this is nothing new with our government.
With due respect, I say it would have been a happier closure to the matter if the Honourable judges had refrained from uttering harsh words against the General, because they were not necessary for deciding the matter.
Both SC and GOI is running away from providing justice and level playing field to the citizens. Insisting for Board certificate by SSC/UPSC is Unconstitutional. The SC has run away from issuing direction as to how DOB is to be determined. Even courts differently determine the dob where it is required to be determined. Mostly they determine it to get the criminals scot free or to get the innocent persons punished as per the whims and fancies of the persons sitting as judge. It is High time that age restrictions for appointment is scrapped immediately and jobs are made open and offered to all based on merit and fitness only, like open economy. Age restriction for job is one of the causes of corruption. It also forces the parents to put the children in schools at the age of 2-3 years, which is violation of human rights of children, to be competent enough and competitive before attaining the prescribed age put by Govt. for appointment.
general vk singh has stick to his word of integrity and honour.when he was proved that he had accepted his date of birth during promotions as a commander,he silently withdraw his pil showing his respect to courts and also countrymen . here i liked the article that no one has won,its the law which clarified the apprehensions.this is due to the values and beliefs of the courts the country is still proud of.
Previously General Deepak Kapoor, just a few days short of retirement, was also declared hearing impaired attributable to military service,entitling him to higher pension benefits. And now General VK Singh, who one expected would mop up the dirt left behind by his predecessors in the Army leadership, finds himself in the quagmire of extended benefits. The Supreme court's decision is at best a diplomatic one - to satisfy both the chief and the government. One hopes the next chief will remember the Chetwode Credo, instilled into young officers from the academies. "The safety, honour and welfare of your country comes first, always and every time.
The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.
Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time."
It seems that the government has faith in him.The court appreciates his
integrity.Only the chief has doubts about the caliber&wisdom of the
government which rules the country whose protection is of paramount
importance to him.
The article, as I read it, came across as balanced, a characteristic
of this newspaper and a strong reason why I read it. But I would like
to draw the attention of the editorial team of the The Hindu, to
something which I believe is potentially capable of being
misunderstood by some readers, because of the nature of its
presentation and the words used. The title of the article, "Army Chief
loses age war", presents a 'black-and-white' picture of the situation
and is capable of hurting strongly, certain genuine sentiments
associated with the armed forces. A 'war' is something which the
soldiers of the Indian army wage in order to protect their motherland,
and many have made the supreme sacrifice of laying down their own
lives for this very purpose. I believe that a respected national daily
should make sure that it does not use words which can potentially be
negatively misconstrued and can cause harm to a community of
individuals who serve their country with deep rooted conviction.
In future Wars will be fought with the wretched politicians and the black robed Judges of Courts. No need to invest in the Armed forces anymore! Excellent News for the poor and downtrodden in this Unpromising Land.
Who actually won the case??? whose victory???
I feel sad for Army chief. Now govt is shameless they even din't spare
the army chief.
The general brought up the date issue at the NDA itself but was ignored and made to shut up
and carry on with the rigorous training. One can understand this only if one has been in the
academy. Cadets are only meant to do and train and not to be heard. Similarly the letters he
has given accepting his age to be 1950 have been done under a veiled threat and also in
good faith. Even this aspect can be understood by people who have served in the Army.
Ever since his becoming an officer in jun 1970 he has maintained his DOB as1950 His birth
certificate was given to the AG's Br. MS Br having his DOB recorded as 1950 seems peculiar
when theft have Confidential Reports written every year with them. The MDS they prepare
for promotions to earlier ranks too have DOB as 1951. My personal view has been that
justice has been miscarried. Now I understand why they say that Law is blind. I appreciate
the Gen that he did not accept the inducements offered to him by the Govt. Its sad that truth
has lost.
Were this to be a one off it would not matter as much as it does. The
quality of judgments from the Court have been declining a great deal
in recent memory. While I am not privy to the great majority of
arguments that take place in the chamber, I, like all with access to
the internet, do have access to the text of the judgments. And if I
were to base my criticism of the Court on the basis of its written
judgement, then I do have much to criticize. There have been passages
plagiarized from Wikipedia and pasted in opinions. The Ayodhya case
saw the bizarre assignment of property rights to deity. The quality of
reasoned debate looks feeble when judgments invariably have words that
make no sense in the context they are used in. "This case should have
been settled peacefully", the court said. Any school teacher would
have demanded a thousand rewrites until the sentence made sense. The
intellectual standing of our top Court is a matter of shame. India
deserves better judges! She needs them!!
Shame on the high Court! It was expected to rule on this disturbing
matter, and not use its clout to browbeat the Army Chief into
withdrawing his petition. In so doing the court has lost respect, and
shown itself either unwilling, unable or unfit to fulfill its
Constitutional obligation of providing justice. The bureaucracy of
free India is not to be crossed, and the Supreme Court seems to have
fallen in line. Thinking of parallels here, this bench, if faced with
a petitioner complaining against confessions extracted under duress,
known to the court and all to be untrue, would advise the petitioner
to voluntarily accept the falsehood and consequences that accrue wit
it. That the truth is of such little importance to the Supreme Court
is a deeply painful and troubling admission. That and acceptance of a
falsehood accepted under pressure is legally binding has nowhere been
heard of before in the annals of Law anywhere in the world.
The DOB of the General is 1951 as per AFMC records . He was born there. General is an upright officer and many of the serving officers still talk high of this Rajput Soldier who fought single- handedly against removal of AFSPA in Kashmir.
A very good judgement indeed!
It is defeat of professionism,honesy and character
it is defeat of professionism,honesy and character, a govt babudom if couldnot give justice to general what kind of justice a common man can get,,,shame on whole corruptive caucus who rule this unmanageable country whose credibility is being eroded by every new scandal and common public have lost faith,,,people have not future in this corrupt administration, political set up
The whole episode reeks of greed, lust for hanging on to positions of authority and a reflection of a general decline in moral, conscientious behaviour from high ranking beurocrats and politicians. It is so disheartening to find this age-fudging and thereby extending one's service is most prevalent in people in high positions! I find it ludicrous that the Army chief and his counsel chose to ply their argument "as a matter of principle" - How well the SC slapped his wrist on his earlier commitments!
The General, SC, Defence Ministry, Parliament, Media and the whole nation had to endure this circus for 2, 3 months all for what purpose? Just so that, this 'not so upright General' wants to hang on to his job for one more additional year, and maybe, make some 10 lakh rupees in salary in the process? One would think that in his 38 years of service, he made and saved enough money for histo live COMFORTABLY FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. Where have we come down to, as a Nation? Very pathetic
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter” is Mark Twain’s quote. Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. Here is a classic case; you have a person who has the love and the passion for his job, a job to serve one’s nation. Where there is a will there is a way goes another saying. Something has got to give. For what this General is worth he can have his service period extended! After all we are a nation known to honor our service folks! I am not sure what the court has achieved by this other than simple statistics!
The Supreme Court's decisions does little to inspire faith in the law. Are they a tribal council
dispensing justice on the whims of the day? Are they a court who find reason on sound
legal principles established in common law? Or are they city 'elders' espousing
'understanding' in the governments predicment? Last week, the Court observed the
Defence Ministry acted against 'natural justice' in the manner they handled two statuary
complaints- by the General. Further more, today the court states UPSC documents are the
standard for determining date of birth disputes YET preious supreme court rulings hold the
matriculation certificate as the final say on DOB. Bottom line on the case- the court has
failed to SHOW justice has been delivered. Lastly, the whole perception whipped up by
"anonymous" Govt sources of "civilian supremacy being challenged" was tactless and
without regard for our Republic- and it's defenders.
What a waste of every one's time and money, especially that of the supreme court! Why engage in these silly cases? This should have been settled at a lower court such as the appeal court.
This issue has nothing to do with the public in general. The people were
unnecessarily and involuntarily got involved in this matter. A system
has to be introduced to deal with these kind of matters in camera.
In this case, although the petioner before the court, did not win on the issue relating to the change of the date of birth, the attorney general of India has told the Apex Court, that the Government and the Defence Minister has FULL FAITH IN THE GENERAL. It is a win win Situation to both the parties. THere is however a clear message to all the parties in Govt service. THe issue relating to
Age should be corrected without any delay, after entry into service, and not at the end. The Supreme Court, to my knowledge, has already held earlier in the case of employees in the industries, has already held that the correction of the age should be done within a reasonable time after entry into service, and correction of the age at the last stage before Superannuation will not be normally encouraged. C.P.Chandra Das, from USA.
The army general was always wrong on this issue. After entering NDA when
he was not eligible by backdating his birthdate to 1950, and gaining
seniority as a result, he became a General. Once he was a General, he
wanted the birthdate switched to 1951 to retire a year later! He wants
to have the cake and eat it too. The Government should dismiss him
without mercy.
This is an avoidable incident , which has surfaced pure due to reluctant
attitude of the top bureaucrats.
The present Army Chief Gen V K Singh has officially tried to correct the age discrepancy in the Army Records full 32 years after joining the army in 1970. If an ordinary soldier does a similar thing, every one knows what will be his fate. Supreme Court should have reprimanded him for setting a bad example, instead it chose to cajole him by remarking that government has full faith in him and that the court wanted to ensure that he continues to work as the Army Chief as he has been doing.Mistake is a mistake however minor it is. It is not expected of an Army Chief. There cannot be different yardstick for measuring the honesty of a soldier and a general.
Just as a new terminology such as "documents at the threshold" joins the legal lexicon from today two dates of birth's for one individual also become a reality; with the endorsement of the highest court of the land as the news item above seems to indicate. This is rather mind boggling.
On Feb 2, 2012, in the 'THIS DAY THAT AGE" of your esteemed paper there was featured a baffling news titled "Legally dead women". It was about a woman in London being "told on the best legal authority that... she must remain (legally) dead until given High Court permission to come live again" as the 'records' had pronounced her dead earlier. Is'nt what has happened today something similar to that where in the place of the "Legally dead women" we have a 'Twice born' Gen VK SIngh. 'Truth'as they say is surely stranger than fiction!
The complaint was filed in the Supreme Court and subsequently the Defence Ministry positioned itself behind the birth year of Army Chief as 1950. It is very clear that VKS was either ill advised or his own honesty integrity card was just a coverup of his real intend or was he batting for a lobby which is restlessly working to pull down the government?. The timing of the 2G case verdict, subsequent Dr Swamy's petition for inducting the Home Minister and the current case of Army Chief, were co-incident or were a well planned strategy to corner the government just before the assembly polls of 5 states. Nobody bites the honesty and integirty arguement of the Army Chief and through his act he himself shot on his foot.He was promoted to the position of the well decorated only and one Army Chief's position by the government, was not enough a recognition for his honesty, sincerity and integrity?.Does he has a moral right to continue in the Army Chief's post still?
A needless controversy and the General should thank his lawyers for the mess. Repeatedly courts,including the apex court,have earlier conme down on civilian staff of the Government when they -towards the fag end of their service - tried to get their dob changed. Rules being what thhey are, the apex court could never have taken a contrary view,just because the Chief of Staff was involved. TV channels jumped thuinking the Defence Minister will get rapped. Truth has prevailed
Keeping up with its glorious tradition, the apex court has proved to be the highest settlement and adjudicatory institution of the land. The controversy over DoB of the Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh would not have been settled in a more exemplary and amicable manner had it not been for the highest judicial authority. Kudos to the Supreme Court for deciding the matter so expeditiously and also for restoring honour and integrity of the General which was stigmatized by the Government earlier by passing a non-speaking order rejecting his statutory complaint. However, the Honorable Supreme Court has rightly upheld that the General cannot rebut his earlier admission and therefore the conclusive outcome is that one cannot affirm and negate the same fact at the same time.
It does not make any sense why the Government is making a big fuss over a small issue. The General has given his life to his country and the government should have been grateful to him. He has also served his country all these years sacrificing the material world. For this the government should have accepted his age as stated by him or if there is a dispute they should have extended his service so that he retires on May 2013. I want to know how many of these bureaucrats or politicians are willing to give their life to the country ?
The Army chief need not have gone to Supreme court, since he had already accepted 1950 as his DOB, during his service.
The Supreme Court of India has killed two birds with one stone ! Having delivered the most suitable verdict to settle the issue which looked a little too frightening one .The created kink, due to any reason what so ever,has been very judiciously ironed out eventually in the larger interest of the Nation . Let ,therefore,the ongoing case after the SC verdict be considered a moribund case!
The army chief should not have brought this matter to court. The Govt's decision to withdraw order was honorable
it is not a set back to gen.singh. our army is great. he should honour supreme courts opinion and the govt. also should take steps to pacify him. he should continue till his date of superannuation to avoid any further controversy over seniority or merit or left over service amongst those waiting to be promoted. let him set a superb example by following gen.thimmiah
General V.K.Singh is said to have approached the Supreme Court to protect his honour and integrity when the age row cropped up. He would have done enormous justice and also brought glow to his honour and integrity had he abided by his own commitment and honoured his letters of 2008 and 2009 accepting his date of birth as May 10,1950. To get a couple of promotions, he was quite willing to accept a convenient date of birth. The irony is that the General wanted to have his cake and eat it too. It is sad to see a decorated soldier like him leaving the court with egg on his face. Let us hope that he will serve out the remainder of his tenure honourably and gracefully.
as usual The Hindu is the first to comment and it is good. unfortunately gen. singh was ill advised in the first instance to go to court. i had already mentioned in these columns that even in early seventies there were court rulings that the threshold is always what is first recorded and signed by both the parties as a contract. any way the judgement is on expected lines though there were t v media hype(not Hindu!)on this. The Govt. should follow the same steps as wasdone in the case of Gen.Thimmiah so that the apex courts opinion or views are upheld. both gen.singh and the govt. will have a win win situation.
The Supreme Court ruling is the best possible soultion to this mess created by the MoD and the Army Chief. As per this ruling, both parties get what they claimed and yet none concedes any ground to the other. While the Chief has got his dignity and integrity restored, the MOD is correct in considering the date of birth of Army Chief's for service conditions. Both parties are winners and at the same time both parties have lost.
In this imbroglio, the Supreme Court has emerged as the clear winner acting like a fair, strict and visionary teacher who looks beyond petty issues to dispense equitable justice keeping the larger public interests in mind. The institution of the Supreme Court is further strenghtened through this judgement.
It is good to heave a sigh of relief now that the curtain has come down on the avoidable controversy kicked up by VK Singh. It appeared at first that the SC was soft on the General by allowing a direct petition to SC without going first to the tribunal. It used a specious argument that Singh's junior could be a Member of the AFT. But the law of rule is now established with SC declaring that recorded date in the UPSC is sacrosanct whatever the fact may be.
the age of army chief should be stated as 1951 and he should resign on
date as per 1950. in that case the honour and prestige will be at
highest level and case would have been resolved with no loss.
this is first time these kind of case is been registered. we cannot
blame any of them but we can solve it far better then this.
basically govt is defeated, basically it was not for extension but rectification of age, which is genuinely 10 may 1951,govt have accepted it and general has given permission ,so general won this honour and govt totally exposed how they inefficient ,incompetent and slow to fix the minor issue,if we go thorough whole correspondance,general accepted govt diktat under compulsion not voluntarily under army rule where no obaying order is construed as traitor
This judgment is a good reminder that media should keep it self aloof from prejudging such cases. There was an editorial in THE HINDU on 18th Jan 2012 which said "By refusing to accede to General Singh's request to correct the official record on the basis of documented fact, the Defence Ministry has shown astonishing short-sightedness, and in the process tread on a proud soldier's sense of honour" and advised the government to accede to Army Chief's plea. I hope editorials will be more impartial in the future instead of just criticizing the government in power, just for the sake of it.
Just as expected,The Supreme Court has given its SUPREME Judgement.
From the starting it was clear that General is just not clear from his end.He has taken all the benefits from his 1950 DOB and now when the time approaches he want the DOB to be 1951.Very well taken care by SUPREME COURT.I am really happy to see the past few judgements given by supreme court and really very much encouraged by these kind of verdicts.
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