General Bikram Singh
The appointment of next Army chief Lt Gen Bikram Singh, due to take over from General VK Singh on Thursday, has been dragged into fresh controversy.
The Supreme Court had last month dismissed a PIL against the Army chief designate after being told by the Centre that the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) had considered all charges against him. In a new twist, the original petitioners, led by eminent citizens Admiral L Ramdas, former CEC N Gopalaswami among others, have made a sensational claim that the file shown to Court was “doctored”.
The petitioners, seeking review of the Supreme Court’s earlier order passed on their PIL on April 23, have alleged that the Centre played a fraud on the Court by showing the file with several “interpolations”.
The review petition filed on Tuesday in the SC said, “The petitioners strongly believe that the original ACC file produced in the Supreme Court was doctored and the suspicion is further strengthened by the presence of page ’15A’ in the file…when the same should normally have been in running numbers.”
Another factor linked to this suspicion was the timing of the grant of clearance to Lt Gen Bikram Singh by the Intelligence Bureau, also placed in the file.
The allegation against Singh was two-fold. One related to his deputation as Deputy Force Commander in Congo as part of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in 2008. An Army Court of Inquiry (CoI) found that soldiers under Singh’s command were guilty of sexual misconduct. The other charge against him related to his alleged involvement in a fake encounter case of 2001 in Jammu and Kashmir while being posted as Commanding Officer of First Sector, Rashtriya Rifles. This issue is currently pending before Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
The review petition further raised questions on how the ACC file on March 3 this year exhibited an affidavit submitted before the J&K High Court by Ministry of Defence (MoD) on March 23. The petition contended if “institutional integrity” alone was the criteria to disqualify former CVC PJ Thomas who had a criminal trial pending against him, applying similar standards here would disqualify Singh, who was yet to be given a clean chit by the High Court.
With regard to his role at Congo, the petitioners pointed out that on April 13 the MoD sent a query to Army Headquarter seeking clarification on the role and responsibility played by Singh as Deputy Force Commander at Congo operations. However, the notification of his appointment was considered and cleared by the ACC on March 3, over a month prior to sending of the query.
To testify the strength of the Centre’s claim, the petitioners even sought a copy of the documents contained in the ACC file, but the same was denied to them under the Right to Information Act.
The review petition also challenged the claim of the Government to declare Singh an international civil servant during the Congo deputation. It attached opinions of retired Army officers to suggest that the assignment was purely military in nature and that Singh could enjoy no immunity for actions by soldiers under his command, thus attracting action against him under the relevant military and international laws.
-via The Pioneer.
All is not well in the ranks and files. Big money Arms Deals, the Big bad Arms Mafias,Easy money from running canteens in the name of private ventures,commissions /rebates from civil contractors for allowing them to run commercial activities inside defence buildings meant for safe keeping of sophisticated military arsenals and loots from purchase of rations for the troops have converted military into Benia Fauj.
In one hand almost all category of people in uniform are seen involved in mega scams/petty scams in collusion with defence audits /bureaucrats in the ministry of defence on other hand private funds are being used for constructions of huge temples , Gurdwaras inside cantonments in the A1 defence lands with no regards to rules and regulations.Those temples etc are then thrown open to the civilians for collecting more donations which are not even accounted for.
At this juncture even if Arms Mafias are reigned in , military generals will earn their Haftas like that of the Mumbai Dons from the Unit Run Canteens selling CSD as well as NON-CSD goods being run on the defence premises/lands/buildings at a throw away rent eg Rs 5 per square meters of defence building with 100 square meters of alnds for parking etc free.
There are as per reply given by Saint Antoni in the Lok sabha 3760 URC selling CSD goods which is as per their own reply in the past is reduced by appx 200 URCs.Which is befitting to the status of Saint Antoni and not true.There are more than 4500 URCs selling CSD goods alone excluding the Extension Counters being run for the ESMs (Ex-service men) even in the remote locality/non-military stations.It is not at all difficult to find the exact Numbers as each one is registered with the General Manager Canteen Stores Deepartment , a solely owned govt of India enterprise and within the domain of oversight committee/C &AG.Besides each one is occupying some defence building/or private structures created out of so called private /non-public fund allowed by the ministry of defence.A minimal licence fee for each of such declared URCs ( registered by the GM CSD,MUMBAI) is paid to the Government and audited by Controller of Defence Accts.
In addition to those URCs selling CSD goods there are more a lac of URCs occupying defence lands/buildings are being run to sell non-CSD goods. These data is also available with the CDA auth. More than 25 % of the available troops on a daily basis are engaged in the running of CSD as well as non-CSD ventures.All , as per the latest Supreme Court ruling are private ventures. It is there military generals are allowing its officers ( with shortage of officers a national issue) to run private ventures and get extra duty paid.This is also on record.
Whether it is Gen VK Singh or General V Singh it is one and the same for the Benia Fauj.They are on the pay role of Saint Antony who to me is on pay role of the military brasses through their non-public funds which is fast becoming an unmanageable funds in the hands of the Benia Fauj.
Unless we destroy these Benia Fauj our country needs no enemy external. It is the enemy within which will destroy us very very soon.