Age row: SC to hear PIL today; sensitive issue: PM

CJI-led bench to hear PIL seeking direction to govt to correctly determine date of birth of General Singh.

Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declined to comment on the Army Chiefs age row,saying it was too sensitive,a three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India will hear on Friday a PIL seeking a direction to the government to correctly determine the date of birth of General V K Singh as May 10,1951 as per his school leaving certificate.

The Army Chief too has filed a separate writ petition invoking the Supreme Courts extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution,asking the court to call for his records and clarify the year of birth.

The PIL,filed by the Grenadiers Association (Rohtak Chapter),quotes former CJI JS Vermas opinion that the controversy over the age of General Singh may be an effort to edge him out to avoid inconvenient truths from surfacing.

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It reproduces Vermas opinion,sought by the Army to clear the air on the controversy,which says how recent media reports give this impression of Army Chief General V K Singh for not sparing even the highest in the armed forces for their involvement in the housing and land scams.

I am afraid edging out such an Army Chief before the end of his legitimate tenure on this pretext may give the public impression of silencing the voice of an inconvinient truth. That would be unfortunate and detrimental to the national interest, the petition quotes Verma.

The PIL has asked the SC to give a direction to the government to correctly determine the date of birth of General Singh as May 10,1951 as per his school leaving certificate. Three more former CJIs… in their opinions have categorically supported the principle that dates of birth can only be determined on the basis of school leaving certificates, said the petition.

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