Army appoints Lt Gen G M Nair as new Military Secretary

New Delhi, Jan 27 (ANI): Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor on Wednesday removed Lieutenant General Avadhesh Prakash from the post of Military Secretary and replaced him with Lieutenant General G M Nair.

The action was in response to a Court of Inquiry (CoI) finding that indicted Lt General Prakash in connection with the Sukhna land scam.

The decision comes four days before Lt. General Prakash's retirement.

Prior to his new assignment, Lt General Nair was heading the Kangra based 9 Corps.

The Military Secretary is one of eight Principal Staff Officers at the Army Headquarters.

He is also responsible for the promotion and posting of officers.

The CoI had indicted Lt. General Prakash and Lt General P K Rath for their role in issuing a no objection certificate to a private firm that had falsely claimed it was establishing an affiliate of the famous Ajmer-based Mayo College on land adjacent to the Sukhna military station in Darjeeling.

Lt-General Rath was commander of the crucial 33 Corps based in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, under which the Sukna military station comes.

Earlier, the Defence Ministry had cancelled the appointment of Lt. General Rath as the new Deputy Army Chief (Information Systems and Training). (ANI)