The Supreme Court Monday took suo motu cognizance of a report published in The Indian Express on former Army Chief Gen V K Singhs statements against the courts verdict on his age row,besides his attack on Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for allegedly questioning his claim that the Army had paid all ministers in the state since Independence. A bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale took suo motu note of the report,published in the newspaper on September 22,which reproduced Singhs statements to news agency ANI. The court has fixed the matter for first hearing Tuesday. According to the cause title,the bench is mulling initiation of proceedings under criminal contempt of court,which in law is considered more severe than civil contempt. In February last year,Singh had lost his legal battle on the age row in the apex court,which had held that the governments decision on his date of birth will apply for his service matters,forcing him to withdraw his petition. The court had told Singh that he could not go back on the commitment he had made to abide by the government decision to treat his date of birth as May 10,1950 and rejected the contention of prejudice and perversity against him.
