With due respect

The question of Army Chief General V.K. Singhs age,and therefore,retirement,has roiled the military establishment,involved the government and could even go to court. A bureaucratic quibble between two branches of the army has now become a pressing national question. It did not have to reach this stage.

The army chief must retire at the age of 62 or within three years of appointment,whichever comes first. While records in the military secretary branch say Singh was born in 1950 and is due to retire this May,he contends he was born a year later borne out by his school-leaving certificate,as well as by the armys own adjutant-general branch which keeps records. Through General Singhs career,the operating assumption was that he was born in 1951 until 2006,when he was to be appointed army commander and the government noticed the discrepancy. The army establishment then told Singh to accept 1950 as his birth date,while still seeking to settle the question internally. It then came up when he was to become chief,and again,he signed another undertaking that he would go by the governments decision in the organisational interest. However,things became complicated after an RTI application demanded his real age and the contradiction surfaced again. Claiming that the controversy hurt his sense of honour,General Singh cited legal opinions that supported his version and petitioned the defence ministry. Last week,the government rejected his statutory complaint prompting speculation that Singh may move court.

That thought hasnt occurred to me yet,General Singh said to this newspaper on Wednesday. What the government needs is to take the initiative and come up with a negotiated solution that preserves General Singhs personal pride,the armys morale,and achieves the governments objective of clearing the post for someone else. Singh has insisted he has no problem with being moved out of his job as long as his reputation is intact. Given the stakes involved,the government should apply greater imagination instead of hoping the courts will step in and solve matters. While General Singh must realise that his personal pride is secondary to the armys image,the government must be sensitive to the militarys sense of being slighted and show greater tact and statesmanship than it has so far. In short,both need to climb down for a win-win any alternative is messy.