A serving officer has written to Army Chief, General Dalbir Singh, protesting the award of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) to a Lt General heading the Directorate General of Recruitment, who allegedly got recruitment norms changed to help his son. Lt Col Channpreet Singh, a Group Task Officer at 11 Services Selection Board, Allahabad, had written to the Army Chief on January 30, just days after the DG Recruiting, Lt Gen R N Nair, was awarded the highest peacetime distinguished service award on January 26. [related-post] The Indian Express had earlier reported on how the rules for selection of officers for Territorial Army, Judge Advocate General’s Branch and Army Education Corps were suddenly changed and then reverted when he complained to the Army Chief. The General’s son was one of the candidates for selection to the Territorial Army when the rules had been changed. In his letter, a copy of which has been accessed by The Indian Express, the Lt Colonel brings to the notice of Gen Dalbir Singh that he had highlighted certain anomalies introduced in the selection system by the DG and in the aftermath of which, the Army had revoked those orders and reverted to the previous selection policies. “My interaction with the adjutant general also assured me that adequate steps had been taken at your end to plug the loopholes in the system to ensure the non-recurrence of such anomalies in future. The adjutant general had also personally assured me that suitable disciplinary action had been initiated against the DG,” the letter states. Lt Col Channpreet went on to complain that it was incomprehensible to see the same officer being awarded the PVSM when there was a serious charge of impropriety against him. “Moreover, I also strongly feel that such felicitation demean the actual prestige and honour of these decorations,” he said. The Army has already dismissed the allegations that Lt Gen Nair’s son benefited from the changed rules of selection. It has maintained that the General’s son was adjudged as per the old selection norms. The distinguished service awards have already been in controversy this year because of the disproportionately high number of Generals who were given them on Republic Day. Of a total of 88 Lt Generals in the Army, as many as 50 of them received the awards.
