General vs General: Two promotions challenged

Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

A senior Lieutenant General has challenged the promotion of two colleagues of his rank as Army Commanders and moved the Armed Forces Tribunal seeking quashing of such a move while seeking his own elevation to that post.

The two officers in question are Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, who is likely to be the successor of Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh in 2014, and Western Army Commander Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra.

Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Lt Gen Ravi Dastane recently filed the plea before the AFT seeking elevation as an Army Commander and quashing of appointment of these two officers, sources told PTI here.

If the plea is accepted, it can create a possible succession row in the force.

In his petition filed by advocate S K Sanan, Gen Dastane has pleaded that “appointment of respondent number 3 and 4 (Lt Gen Dalbir Singh and Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra respectively) to be quashed being in violation of a decision in Lt Gen Raj Kadyan’s case.”

Gen Dastane has asked the AFT to direct the Defence Ministry to give him the “status and appointment of Army Commander from June 1, 2012”.

Gen Dastane’s Statutory Complaint in this regard has already been rejected by the Army headquarters and the Defence Ministry had sent it to the Law Ministry for its advice.

Gen Dastane’s previous counsel Maj S S Pandey had earlier said that on June 1, the Government had kept the post of Eastern Army Commander vacant for two to three days before Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag was appointed whereas Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachhra was appointed as the Western Army Commander on June 1.

The post was not filled as just before retirement, Gen V K Singh had put Lt Gen Suhag under a discipline and vigilance ban for a failed intelligence operation in Assam but the ban was lifted within 72 hours of Gen Bikram Singh assuming office.

“On that day, Lt Gen Dastane was also eligible to be elevated as an Army Commander and we will plead before the AFT to give us that appointment,” Pandey had said.

If the plea is accepted, then Gen Dastane may become senior to Lt Gen Suhag, who is expected to succeed Gen Bikram Singh in July 2014 after his retirement.

Gen Dastane has commanded the 14 Corps in Ladakh and was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) when troops in an artillery regiment beat up their officers in Nyoma during an exercise.

The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the incident and its outcome is still awaited

-via The Hindu

New battle for next army chief

Ajai Shukla.

The dust has barely settled after General VK Singh’s Supreme Court battle to be army chief for another year when another senior general is approaching the court with a petition which, if accepted, could make him the next army chief, instead of Lt Gen Dalbir Singh, the eastern army commander who is currently in line.

Business Standard has learnt that Lt Gen Ravi Dastane, currently the deputy chief of the tri-service Integrated Defence Staff, will shortly file a petition with the Armed Forces Tribunal, a high court-level legal body that adjudicates on military matters.

“My client has been unfairly denied the appointment of army commander, for which he fulfilled every condition. Instead, a post was kept vacant for Lt Gen Dalbir Singh who was under a vigilance ban. This was procedurally incorrect, and I will request the Honourable court to set it aside,” says Major (Retired) Sudhansu Pande, who will represent Gen Dastane in court.

After commanding the Leh-based 14 Corps in 2011-12, Gen Dastane is eligible to be appointed an army commander, a pre-requisite for becoming army chief. The army has seven commands: six geographical (northern, western, south-western, southern, central and eastern); and one functional command, the Army Training Command or ARTRAC. There is also the tri-service Andaman & Nicobar Command, commanded in turn by officers from the army, navy and air force.

The key date in the current dispute is May 31, 2012, when two army commander posts fell vacant with the retirement of former army chief, Gen VK Singh [ Images ], and the western army commander, Lt Gen Shankar Ghosh.

Army records examined by Business Standard indicate the three senior-most generals on that day who were eligible to become army commanders (the pre-requisite being that they must have commanded a corps) were, in order of seniority, Lt Gen Dalbir Singh, followed by Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra, followed by Lt Gen Ravi Dastane.

As was widely reported in the media at the time (and corroborated by Major Pande), Lt Gen Dalbir Singh was under a discipline and vigilance (DV) ban, having received a show-cause notice from the former Army chief, Gen VK Singh, for a botched operation by the 3 Corps Intelligence Unit under Dalbir’s command.

With Dalbir ineligible for elevation because of the DV ban, the Army appointed Chachra as western Army commander (MS Branch signal 388218/2012/MS(X)/79 dated May 30, 2012). Dastane, however, was not given the second Army commander vacancy. Instead, it was kept vacant until Lt Gen Dalbir Singh’s showcause notice was nullified on June 8 by Gen Bikram Singh, who had taken over as Army chief.

On June 15, Lt Gen Dalbir Singh was appointed the eastern Army commander through MS Branch signal 388246/ 2012/MS(X)/94 dated June 15, 2012. Two weeks later, the MS Branch restored his seniority of June 1, 2012, through MS Branch letter A/45751/2012/ LG/Army Cdr/EC/MS(X) dated June 24, 2012.

Dastane’s Statutory Complaint to the MoD, filed on August 6, objects to the differential standards applied, in which one vacancy was filled by appointing Lt Gen Chachra, while “reserving” one vacancy for Lt Gen Dalbir Singh, and granting him retrospective seniority.

“They appointed Lt Gen Chachra because he was retiring on May 31. But my client was as eligible as he was, and if Chachra was considered for army commanders’ appointment on May 31, that concession should also have been given to me. The government could have taken a stand that we will not appoint anyone before Dalbir’s showcause notice is resolved. But they considered and appointed Chachra,” points out Pande.

The next army commander’s vacancy arises only on January 31, by when Dastane would have less than two years of residual service, rendering him ineligible by current guidelines to be appointed Army commander.

Dastane’s lawyer says his petition to the Armed Forces Tribunal will plead for his promotion as Army commander with effect from June 1, 2012, and that he be physically appointed to head the next Army command that falls vacant.

If this is granted, says Dastane’s lawyer, the general will have a strong legal case to demand seniority above Dalbir Singh, who was appointed only on June 15. That would make Dastane the senior-most qualified lieutenant general on July 31, 2014, when the current chief, Gen Bikram Singh, retires. The MoD convention has long been to appoint the senior-most qualified officer to succeed an outgoing chief.

The MoD’s viewpoint, say ministry sources, is that Lt Gen Dalbir Singh’s claim was alive on June 1, though subject to a decision on his showcause notice. The MoD, therefore, left one Army commander’s vacancy unfilled, in anticipation of a decision on the show-cause notice.

-via Rediff

General set to move Army court on another’s elevation

Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

The deep fissures within Army’s top brass continue to fester with a lieutenant general planning to move the Armed Forces Tribunal against the decision to appoint Lt Gen Dalbir Suhag as the Eastern Army Commander. Lt Gen Suhag is expected to be the next Army chief, when Gen Bikram Singh retires in 2014.

According to sources, Lt Gen Ravi Dastane, deputy chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, is set to move the Armed Forces Tribunal challenging the appointment of Lt Gen Suhag as the head of Eastern Army Command. The move also raises an unexpected challenge to Lt Gen Suhag’s possible elevation as the Army chief after Gen Singh demits office.

The move comes within months of last Army chief Gen V K Singh’s unprecedented decision to move the Supreme Court on the issue of his age. After the SC shot down his contention, Gen V K Singh retired under controversial circumstances only to emerge within weeks as a bitter critic of the UPA government. On Monday, Gen Singh demanded immediate dissolution of Parliament.

Sources said Lt Gen Dastane’s contention is that he was unfairly denied the chance to become an Army commander. Instead of appointing him a commander, the Army kept the post of Eastern Army Commander vacant for Lt Gen Suhag, who was then under a vigilance ban — part of action against a flawed intelligence operation under his command — by Gen V K Singh. After Gen Bikram Singh took over as Army chief, the ban was lifted and Lt Gen Suhag appointed as the Eastern Army Commander based in Kolkata.

According to Lt Gen Dastane’s supporters, he was one of the three senior-most lieutenant generals eligible to be appointed an Army commander on May 31, 2012 when Gen V K Singh and Western Army Commander Lt Gen Shankar Ghosh retired.

The senior-most was Lt Gen Suhag, who was under vigilance ban then. The second in line, Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra, was appointed Western Army Commander. The other vacancy for Army commander was not given to Lt Gen Dastane and was instead kept vacant for Lt Gen Suhag.

Lt Gen Dastane is expected to plead that he be promoted as an Army commander with retrospective effect from June 1, 2012, which would make him the senior-most lieutenant general qualified to become Army chief on July 31, 2014 when Gen Bikram Singh retires.

-via The Times of India.

Lt Gen Suhag’s promotion ‘unjust’: Ex-Navy Chief

Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

Ajmer Singh.

Former Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral L Ramdas has fired a fresh salvo against Army Chief General Bikram Singh. In a complaint made on June 19 this year to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he has alleged that Gen Singh by promoting 3 Corps commander Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag to the position of an Army Commander has strengthened the notion of “line of succession” and also failed to demonstrate his impartiality.

Gen Singh, after taking over as the Army Chief in June this year, had overturned the decision of his predecessor and lifted the Discipline and Vigilance (D&V) ban on Lt Gen Suhag, who may head the Army in 2014.

The former Naval Chief has also requested the Prime Minister to appoint an independent three-member commission to conduct a probe into recent developments concerning the Army, including allegations of corruption made against senior Army officials and irregularities in the defence equipment procurement process, to check deeper malaise within the system.

Admiral Ramdas told The Indian Express that the Prime Minister’s Office has forwarded his complaint to the Ministry of Defence for “appropriate action”.

The signatories to the complaint include former civil servant M G Devashyam, former CEC N Gopalswami, Lt Gen P C Katoch (retd), Lt Gen O S Lochab (retd) journalist Sam Rajappa and Maj Gen Ashok Kalyan Verma (retd).

Citing low morale in the armed forces, Admiral Ramdas said, “There is a widespread perception that while the rank and file are subjected to severe disciplinary action for even minor offence, those on high posts with the right connections can get away with anything. Not only is this reflected in the most recent appointments to the highest offices within the Army, but also, and more seriously, has led to the disturbing view, circulating at many levels, that it is not worth fighting for a country that is in the grip of corrupt and conniving characters.”

Ramdas and other eminent personalities had recently moved the Supreme Court against the appointment of Lt Gen Bikram Singh as the next Chief of the Army staff.

The petitioners had questioned his ability to command 1.3 million strong Army, citing his alleged involvement in a fake encounter and UN peace keeping operations in Congo. The apex court had, however, dismissed the PIL, prompting petitioners to file a review plea in the SC, on the basis that the government had misrepresented and suppressed facts.

Admiral Ramdas, in his complaint, has also criticised former Army Chief Gen J J Singh for his “unfortunate TV interview”.

There is a “deeper malaise within the system — indicating years of brushing uncomfortable questions under the carpet. Within the Army, matters came to a head with the initiation of a so called ‘line of succession’ in 2006, which in turn seems to have triggered the needless controversy over the date of birth of one COAS, in order to install another as COAS in 2012”.

However, Gen J J Singh has denied all allegations about the line of succession.

-via Indian Express.

Army chief targets another seving Lt General

Nitin Gokhale.

A week before he retires as the Chief of the Army Staff, General VK Singh has sent a showcause notice to the man who is currently in line to head the Army in 2014.

General Singh has written to Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag about alleged lapses in command during a failed intelligence operation conducted in Assam in December. Lt General Suhag heads the Dimapur-based 3 Corps, which is under the Eastern Army Command. Lt General Bikram Singh, who heads the Eastern Army Command, will become the new Army Chief at the end of May. So far, there is no word on who will replace him after his promotion. Lt General Suhag’s elevation is endangered by the showcause notice issued to him – he has been accused of “abdicating responsibility” and behaving in “a most unprofessional and lackadaisical manner.” He has a week to reply.

That delay in selecting a Commander, sources say, points to the worrying consequences of tension between the Army headquarters and the Defence Ministry. At least six top appointments in the Army remain undecided. There is no clarity on which officers will heading two of the Army’s crucial commands – the Eastern Command headquartered at Kolkata and the Chandimandir (Chandigarh)-based Western Command.

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The current Western Army Commander Shankar Ghosh retires along with General VK Singh on May 31, but his successor is not yet known since the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is yet to clear the name of Lieutenant General Sanjiv Chachra, currently the Military Secretary at the Army HQ.

Three Corps Commanders – of 14 Corps based at Leh, 15 Corps based at Srinagar and 9 Corps headquartered at Yol – have completed their stipulated tenure as head of the formation but their replacements are yet to be named. Lieutenant General Ata Hasnain, who has had a very successful and busy tenure in the Kashmir Valley is tipped to be the next Military Secretary. Lieutenant General Ravi Dastane, heading the Leh-based 14 Corps is likely to come to Delhi as Deputy Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, a tri-services organisation.

via Army chief targets Lt General, crucial posts in Army remain undecided.

Promotion recommended for allegedly corrupt General

Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

As CBI looks into Army Chief General VK Singh‘s letter seeking probe into the allegations of corruption against Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, Defence Minister AK Antony disclosed on Thursday that the official has been recommended for promotion as a Commander of a sector.

However, the Minister said he was not aware of the Army Chief referring a complaint of corruption levelled against the Lt Gen by a Trinamool Congress to CBI.

“Sometime back, during one of the meetings, the Army Chief told me about the particular Lt Gen. Immediately I told him if there is any specific complaint he must take action.

“But lately, the Army headquarters sent a proposal to send him as Army Commander in one sector. I think the proposal is of March 22 to make him Army Commander. The Defence Secretary cleared it and when I checked up today in my office, it is pending. So, this is my information. The other thing (CBI inquiry) I don’t know,” he said.

A media report revealing the Army Chief’s action of referring the complaintagainst Lt Gen Suhag, who is in line to be the Army Chief after Lt Gen Bikram Singh, came on top of a battle of attrition between the government and Gen V K Singh in the last few days.

Meanwhile, CBI sources said it has received Gen Singh’s covering letter along with the complaint from the TMC MP Ambika Banerjee relating to some corruption in a procurement deal.

It is likely to write to Cabinet Secretariat and Defence Ministry seeking records of purchases in the Special Frontier Force.

TMC MP Banerjee had written the letter to the Defence Ministry in May last year, the sources said. Gen Suhag commands the Dimapur-based 3 Corps.

Gen Singh has now requested the CBI to carry out the probe into the allegations of corruption levelled by the MP in the deals of Special Frontier Force(SFF) when Gen Suhag was its Inspector General, the sources said. The Force works with Indian external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Banerjee has alleged that kickbacks were paid in the deals relating to supply of crucial equipment for the secret force ranging from night vision devices to parachutes, the sources said.

The MP has named a number of senior army officers who have allegedly received kickbacks in these SFF deals, they claimed.

The SFF, also known as Establishment-22, is a secret force raised after 1962 works under the RAW which comes under the control of Cabinet Secretariat.

According to recent media reports, the force is facing a severe shortage of crucial equipment like parachutes as procurements were halted after allegations of irregularities in their procurement were brought to light by officers.

-via DNA.