Concerns that the issue over Army Chief Gen V K Singhs correct age would interfere with the Armys succession line have been addressed with the Attorney General opining that a status quo should remain. In the communication,which was received by the ministry on Thursday,the AG is learnt to have opined that the date of birth cannot be changed at this stage as it would lead to complications in the succession line and would leave the matter open to a complex litigation process,sources said. As first reported by The Indian Express,the matter came into limelight last month after the Law Ministry gave an opinion that his correct date of birth is May 10,1951 in reply to an RTI application. The Defence Ministry will now need to take a call on the matter as it has two differing opinions from the AG and the Law Ministry. The Army has two different dates of birth in its records for Singh. The Adjutant Generals (AG) branch,the official record keeper for purposes of salary and pension,has May 10,1951 as the official date of birth while the Military Secretarys branch,in charge of promotions and postings,has recorded the date of birth as May 10,1950. The matter raised interest in military circles as the Army Chief would get one more year of service if 1951 was assumed as the correct year of birth. Sources said that now with the opinion of the AG on the matter,he would serve a term of just over two years as the Chief. He will,in all likelihood,be succeeded by Lt Gen Bikram Singh,who is currently serving as the Eastern Army Commander. As reported by this newspaper,the Army recently received RTI applications asking for dates of birth of its top five officers which exposed this discrepancy. Caught in a spot,the Army asked for legal opinion from the legal advisor in Defence Ministry who,in turn,referred the matter to Law Ministry.
