New Delhi: The Armed Forces Tribunal on Friday
issued notice to the army to produce the findings of the Court
of Inquiry (COI) in the Sukna land scam and raised a number of
questions over the role of Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash in the case.
During the hearing by the two-member tribunal,
Prakash`s counsel Jyoti Singh accused Lt Gen P K Rath, who is
also facing a court martial in this case, of being the
"villain" and was hurling charges because his "neck was in the
noose".
Singh said her client`s role was only to the extent of
requesting Lt Gen Rath that he looks into his friend`s
proposal to set up an educational institute on a state
government adjacent to the military station.
"Where is the doubt. You have a deep interest. You
expose yourself very badly here as it shows your closeness,"
Justice Mathur said.
When Singh said that Prakash could not have influenced
the decision to issue the NOC as he was nowhere in the chain
of command, Mathur said, "Military secretary is de facto Chief
of Staff."
He added that no Lt Gen will try to refuse him unless
they are very upright and very straight forward as Prakash was
holding an important office.
Noting that he was not able to come out of "suspicion"
over Prakash`s role in the case, Justice Mathur said, "Army
has taken a decision to not allow the land to be used for
civilian purposes and Rath has the cheeks to overrule the
decision of a senior commander. That speaks volumes...unless
he was pressurised by your client, why would he otherwise go
back on his own decision to acquire the land."
PTI
