Army chief General VK Singh; (below) Eastern Command chief Lt General Bikram Singh who may succeed VK Singh next year if the age decision stands unchanged

New Delhi, July 21: Defence minister A.K. Antony today decided that army chief V.K. Singh will have to retire in May 2012, risking an embarrassing controversy because the General has been pleading that a mismatch in the records on his date of birth be corrected.

“The General was conveyed that the government is accepting May 10, 1950, as his date of birth,” a defence ministry source said.

Unreconciled records in the adjutant general’s and military secretary’s branches of army headquarters give different dates of birth for the army chief — May 10, 1951, (AG’s branch) and May 10, 1950 (MS’s branch).

General V.K. Singh had made requests over the years for the record in the MS branch to be corrected to the 1951 date. There was even a letter from the MS’s branch to the ministry that it was the AG’s branch that maintained records of officers.

On the other hand, a defence ministry official says, General V.K. Singh was promoted and rose to the highest rank on the basis of his 1950 date of birth. Moreover, he had also given in writing, the official says, that he would not stoke the issue further in the interests of the organisation.

The AG’s branch maintains personnel records and the MS’s branch is in charge of postings and promotions.

The last time a serving military chief and the government were so clearly at loggerheads was in 1998 after then defence minister George Fernandes rejected then navy chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat’s recommendations on the appointment of the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff. Admiral Bhagwat defied the government and was sacked in December 1998 following which he went public.

The row over General V.K. Singh’s age became public for a second time after a query on the Right to Information Act was made by a gentleman named Kamal Taori in October last year.

It is not known what course of action, if any, General V.K. Singh may take now that his pleas have been rejected. But the army chief is understood to have made it an issue “of honour and integrity” because he feels he has been wronged. He is also understood to be unhappy with the perception that he is making use of his position to get an extension of tenure.

If Antony’s decision stands, the chief of the Calcutta-headquartered eastern command, Lt General Bikram Singh, will be the senior most and next-in-line to take over in army headquarters in June 2012. The army chief’s tenure is till 62 years of age.

Had the government accepted the 1951 date, General V.K. Singh may have got an extension of service till March 2013 and the chief of the Udhampur-headquartered Northern Command, Lt General K.T. Parnaik, would be set to take over as the next chief.

General V.K. Singh’s immediate reaction to the government’s decision is not known. But the army chief is understood to have petitioned the President, the Prime Minister and the defence minister in the past stating his case.

Not only that, the adjutant general’s branch also took the opinion of at least three former chief justices of the Supreme Court separately. They said in their reports that the 1951 date reflected the record in General V.K. Singh’s matriculation certificate and it should be accepted.

But the defence ministry consulted the attorney-general — the senior most law officer in the country — G.E. Vahanvati twice. A ministry source said the attorney-general had pointed out there could be grave consequences if the government accepted the 1951 date after appointing V.K. Singh as the chief on the basis of the 1950 date.

The defence ministry also consulted the law ministry at least twice.

The army chief’s appointment and tenure is fixed by the cabinet committee on appointments (CCA). It stands to reason that the defence minister would have been referred to the CCA too before the decision was conveyed to General V.K. Singh.

The row over General V.K. Singh’s age was being followed closely by all soldiers of the armed forces, not only because it impacts on the line of succession but also because as the chief he is expected to lead by example. Indeed, General V.K. Singh had put a house-cleaning exercise at the top of his agenda immediately after taking over in April this year because of the scandals (Sukna and Adarsh) that broke during the tenure of his predecessor, General (now retired) Deepak Kapoor.

A former comrade of General V.K. Singh, not wanting to be identified, said, “from what I know of him, he would be acutely aware of the perception that he tried to use his position (as chief) to doctor the records and that is something he would not be able to accept because every soldier is following him.”

The General can seek legal recourse, of course — by going to the armed forces tribunal or to the court. But it would be a rare army chief in history anywhere in the world to have legally challenged the government that has appointed him.