Ahead of the hearing in the Supreme Court,the Defence Ministry has written to the Adjutant Generals (AG) branch of the Army to correct its records to show the year of birth of Army Chief Gen V K Singh as 1950. The letter was issued to the AGs branch last week. The AGs branch,which is the official record keeper of the Army,has maintained Gen Singhs date of birth as May 10,1951,although the Military Secretarys branch records it as May 10,1950. The move,an attempt to reconcile the two dates in Army records,is an indication of the governments tough stand on the issue. Meanwhile,the petition filed by Gen Singh on his age issue is scheduled to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on February 3. In its first order rejecting the Army Chiefs contention on July 21,the Defence Ministry had asked the AGs branch to record 1950 as his year of birth. The Defence Ministry had then declared the order issued by the Adjutant General (Manpower and Planning) on February 25,directing amendment of the date of birth as May 10,1951 instead of May 10,1950 as recorded,as null and void and non est. Soon after the order was issued by the Ministry,the Army Chief had filed a statutory complaint with Defence Minister A K Antony reiterating that his date of birth should be accepted as May 10,1951. The Army Headquarters had later openly questioned the decision,saying that the date of birth mentioned in his matriculation certificate cannot be ignored. It had said the Defence Ministry has arrived at its decision on the basis of what it was told by the MS Branch which has no jurisdiction on such issues. After the Ministry rejected his statutory complaint on December 30,Gen Singh moved the Supreme Court on January 16,challenging the governments rejection of his claim on his date of birth. with PTI
