Army accountable to civil authority

McArthur was the general of the American army but President Harry Truman had no hesitation in dismissing him when he became defiant of authority.

“The full facts of the case are not known. But the Prime Minister and Defence Minister said that Bhagwat refused to carry out directions in specific appointments. Moreover, he also wrote to the Pakistan Government on certain issues which was certainly not the right thing to do. External relation matters should definitely be handled by the Government and not the Navy,”he argued.

The basic principle of democracy, according to Dubhashi, was very simple. He was clear that the army was accountable to the civil authority and was not a force by itself. "It is highly improper that a thing of this sort has happened, but such things can be sorted out through discussion.” Moreover, the Naval chief is believed to have a disturbing background and he had dragged Admiral Jayant Nadkarni to court over certain appointments making allegations in a manner which was not expected, the former civil servant revealed.

He, however, definitely believed that this dubious background should have been taken into account before his appointment as the Naval chief. “If things had come to such an end where things were unbearable, it would have been more honourable for Bhagwat to have stated that he did not find it possible to further continue in service because of the state of affairs,” he believed.

Moreover, this will definitely tell on the relationship between the service chiefs and the officers in the ministry of defence.“Defence Minister George Fernandes has begun the integration of heads of the services with the ministry involving them in the decision-making process. Perhaps this is the only positive outcome of the entire imbroglio,” he points out.

The former bureaucrat, however, was critical of the suspicion of the armed forces towards civil servants. “They seem to feel that bureaucracy is bent in obstructing things. But ultimately, it is the ministry which takes the decisions. Such distrust should not exist since it ruptures the confidence in functioning.” But Dubhashi is quite clear that the service chiefs should be involved in policy matters. They should act more as staff and policy administrators to the Prime Minister, he felt.

Asked to comment on the apparent silence of the President on the controversial issue, Dubhashi believed that the President was a mere symbolic head and was hence kept informed on various developments, but it was the Cabinet which was responsible for the major decisions. He felt that the time was ripe for reforms in the MoD. “The system of appointments needs a second look. There is a lot of politicisation over this with a number of groups and lobbies. The entire system should be cleansed. Any officer resorting to pressure tactics should be dealt with severely”.