Avadesh moves tribunal to stay court martial

Former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash,who has been indicted in the Army land scandal case,has moved the Armed Forces Tribunal....

Former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash,who has been indicted in the Army land scandal case,has moved the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) for a stay on the court martial proceedings that were ordered by the Army headquarters last week.

Taking legal recourse,Lt Gen Prakash,who is till now the seniormost officer of the Armed Forces facing a court martial,has appealed to the principal branch of the tribunal in the Capital for a stay on proceedings.

The appeal is set to come up for hearing before a high-powered panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge A K Mathur on Thursday. This will be the first high-profile case to be handled by the newly formed tribunal that started functioning late last year.

Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor had last week reversed his earlier decision of letting off Prakash with a milder administrative action after an intervention by the Defence Minister. Following a directive by A K Antony,General Kapoor had initiated court martial proceedings against the officer in the case.

Lt Gen Prakash had been indicted by the court of inquiry for taking undue interest in a land deal and influencing junior colleagues to grant no-objection certificates for transfer of 71 acres of land to a real estate developer. The inquiry had raised a flag on the past business and personal relationship between the developer and the Army officer.