Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: A day after Army Chief General VK Singh moved the Supreme Court to save his ‘integrity and honour’ in connection with a dispute over his age, the government is now in a fix and brainstorming how to defend itself in the case.
Reports, Tuesday, claimed that Union Defence Minister AK Antony has sought Attorney General G E Vahanvati's view on the issue.
The two are expected to meet today and discuss all aspects of dispute over General VK Singh’s age.
The Army Chief and the government are at loggerheads after Defence Ministry rejected his claim on his date of birth.
In his writ petition, Gen Singh is believed to have questioned the government's decision to treat his date of birth as May 10, 1950 instead of May 10,1951 as claimed by him on the basis of his matriculation certificate and other documents.
This is the first time that any Service Chief has dragged the government to the court of law.
The petition has been filed and senior advocate UU Lalit will represent Gen Singh before the apex court.
In his petition, Gen Singh has said the matter related to his "honour and integrity" as he headed a force of 13 lakh personnel.
He questioned why the government had chosen to "change" his date of birth after he had spent 36 years in service and promoted throughout the career.
Gen Singh's action caps months of tussle between him and the Ministry of Defence during which he made two statutory representations to the Ministry.
Antony had recently rejected his statutory representation which ended all the internal appeal options on the subject for the General.
By this decision of the government, Gen Singh will have to retire on May 31.
He has been contending that May 10, 1951 should be treated as his actual date of birth as it was mentioned in his matriculation certificate but the Defence Ministry has rejected it as May 10, 1950 is the date entered in his UPSC entrance form for National Defence Academy (NDA).
With PTI Inputs
First Published: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 09:58