History is repeating itself in the war for the top
post of the Indian Army. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Wednesday
referred the statutory complaint by Lt Gen Ravi Dastane against
appointment of Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the Eastern Army Commander
to the Law Ministry.
The Stakeholders
Lt Gen
Dastane had filed a statutory complaint with the Defence Ministry of
August 6, as to why Eastern Army Command bordering China was kept vacant
after Lt Gen Suhag – senior to him on June 1 – became ineligible for
promotion due to imposition of Disciplinary and Vigilance (DV) ban.
According
to sources, the Defence Ministry that was bound to reply to the
complaint with a period of 90 days has referred it to Law Ministry for
advice. In 2011, the Defence Ministry had referred former Army Chief
General VK Singh’s complaint for reducing his age by a year for legal
advice. The Law Ministry had opined against the former Army Chief’s
request and the ensuing developments climaxed with General VK Singh
dragging the government to the Supreme Court over his age.
The
ongoing issue stems from the decision taken by the General VK Singh
during his last week in the office to impose a DV ban on Lt Gen Suhag –
then the Commander of Dimapur-based 3 Corps – thereby stalling his
promotion as the Eastern Army Commander. The attempt was seen in the
Defence establishment to alter the seniority-based succession line in
the 1.1 million-strong army as the move had thwarted the chances of Lt
Gen Suhag to become Army Chief after incumbent General Bikram Singh.
The
Defence Ministry bid its time and waited for General VK Singh to
superannuate and General Bikram Singh to reverse the DV ban. After two
weeks of keeping the Eastern Army Commander vacant, Lt Gen Suhag was
appointed its Chief following an approval from the Appointments
Committee of Cabinet.
The argument
of Lt Gen Dastane – who is presently the Deputy Chief of Integrated
Defence Staff - is that after Lt Gen Suhag became ineligible due to DV
ban, he should have been appointed the Eastern Army Commander for being
the next senior-most officer.
Sources
in the Defence Ministry, however, says that the intention was “not to
inflict injustice” to Lt Gen Dastane, but “to do justice” to Lt Gen
Suhag.
With the Lt Gen Dastane
making his intent public that he will take the government to the court
if his grievances are not addressed, the Indian Army finds itself in the
thick of the storm even as the dust on the year-long battle for age by
the former Army Chief General VK Singh has barely settled down.
The
infighting amongst the top brass of the second-largest standing army is
again threatening to be played in full public view as sources close to
Lt Gen Suhag indicated that the officer is also gearing up to move a
caveat in the court on Lt Gen Dastane’s petition so that his argument is
also heard before passing a judgement.
Sources
also indicate that technically Lt Gen Dastane might be on a strong
ground as he is claiming that imposition of DV ban was an individual
officer’s problem and the system should have taken its own course as per
norms.
Earlier this year in January, General (retired) VK Singh had
dragged the government to the court claiming he was a year younger than
as maintained by the Defence Ministry that effectively curtailed his
tenure as the Army Chief by a year.
