Defence chiefs lost seats in a midnight row

NEW DELHI, Aug 19: In the continuing saga of affront to the services, another chapter was added, ironically on the occasion of celebrating India’s fifty years of Independence.In the confusion that preceded the midnight session, labelled seats for the chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Staff came to be occupied by people clearly unauthorised by the order of protocol.

In the seating arrangement made by the Lok Sabha Secretariat the three Chiefs were to be seated in the third row of the assemblage in the Central Hall of Parliament. They, however, rank twelfth in the Warrant of Precedence. In any case even that did not prevent them from losing their seats. While the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Air Staff were accommodated together, a separate chair further away had to be provided for the Chief of Naval Staff. On the eve of celebrating golden jubilee of Independence there was, thus, the incongruous sight of senior most officers of the three defence services sitting separately.While the identities of two of those who occupied the chairs have not been ascertained, that of the occupant who unseated Chief of Naval Staff has been confirmed. He is a retired bureaucrat who was a senior official in the Ministry of Defence.