New Delhi: Amid a controversy over Army
Chief General V K Singh`s age, the Army has said no
communication was received from him for making any alteration
in his date of birth.
Responding to an RTI application seeking to ascertain
details of the date of birth records of Gen Singh, the Army
provided a response received from Adjutant General branch
which said that as per records his date of birth is May 10,
1951.
"As per records maintained in the AG`s branch, the
officer has never written for any alteration," Integrated
Headquarters of Defence Ministry (Army) replied to a question
seeking to know if Gen Singh had "ever written" for alteration
in his date of birth records because of a wrong entry.
According to some reports, Gen Singh is said to have
a written number of letters to the then Army Chief General
Deepak Kapoor and the then Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadhesh
Prakash for reconciliation of different dates of birth
mentioned in the records.
The RTI application which was filed on March 28, before
the controversy over the date of birth of army chief erupted,
had also sought to know file notings on the communications
received from Gen Singh in connection with alleged two records
of the date of birth maintained in two different branches of
the force.
"The date of birth as recorded at the time of commission
of the officer is May 10, 1951. No correction to the same has
been effected in our records," the reply said.
The Army chief`s date of birth varied in the records of
the Adjutant General`s and Military Secretary`s branches. The
AG branch, the official record keeper for salary and pension,
has May 10, 1951 as Gen Singh`s date of birth but the Military
Secretary`s (MS) branch, in charge of promotions and postings,
records his date of birth as May 10, 1950.
The Army in response to RTI application gave only the
Adjutant General`s records but did not make public
controversial records of MS branch where the alleged error
took place.
As per the rules, an Army Chief can serve for three
years or up to the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
The issue of date of birth also has bearing over his
successor. If he retires in June 2012, Lt Gen Bikram Singh
will be the most-likely successor and if he gets an extension
as per AG branch record, Lt Gen K T Parnaik would be the
likely successor.
PTI
