Sukna land scandal: Army court orders dismissal of Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash

Prakash will be the seniormost armed forces officer to be dismissed from service and stands to lose all pensionary benefits. He was found guilty of colluding with a private real estate developer for the transfer of 70 acres of land adjacent to the Sukna military station in West Bengal.

The former military secretary will be stripped of his rank after the order is confirmed by the convening authority of the court martial. He will also be given a show-cause notice to explain why his pensionary benefits should not be terminated.

Prakash is the second officer after Lt Gen P K Rath to be found guilty in the case.

The scandal broke after a senior serving officer,Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali,complained about a dubious land deal in the Sukna cantonment.

Rath,the only serving three-star officer to be convicted by a court martial,was set to take over as deputy chief of the Army in 2009 when an inquiry was ordered into the granting of no-objection certificates for a commercial venture on a 70-acre plot near the 33 Corps Headquarters at Sukna that he was commanding.

Prakash can appeal in the Armed Forces Tribunal and also move the Supreme Court against the order.