SC poses questions to Govt on Army Chief's age row

New Delhi, Feb 3: Army Chief Gen V K Singh seems to have won the first round in the legal battle on the age row with the Supreme Court today saying the manner in which his statutory complaint was rejected by the Government "appears to be vitiated".

Posting the matter for hearing on February 10, the court sought to know whether the Government would like to withdraw its December 30, 2011 order. Defence Minister A K Antony had issued an order on December 30 turning down the statutory complaint of Gen Singh that his date of birth be treated in Army's records as May 10, 1951 and not as May 10, 1950.

Posing questions to the Government, the bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale was of the view that the Defence Ministry's order of July 21, 2011 holding the date of birth as May 10, 1950 was based on the opinion of Attorney General and so was the case when the December 30 order was passed on the statutory complaint.

After the court asked whether the Government would like to withdraw the December 30 order, Attorney general G E Vahanvati said he will seek instruction from the government on the issue.

PTI