Army Chief Gen V K Singh will have to retire in May next year,with the government today deciding to treat May 10,1950 as his date of birth,ending a controversy that has been plaguing the force for several months. The decision of the Defence Ministry,reached on the basis of the opinion given by the Attorney General and the Law Ministry,was conveyed to the Army Chief today,sources said. The dispute had arisen after two dates of birth- May 10,1950 and May 10,1951 - were detected in his service records. In the service records,the Matriculation certificate shows May 10,1951 as his date of birth but the UPSC application form filled for entry into the Army has May 10,1950 as the date of birth. Determination of the correct year of birth was crucial as his tenure as the Army chief will be for three years or 62 years of age. With May 1950 being considered as his date of birth,Gen Singh will have to retire in May next year when he will complete 62 years of age. Gen Singh had contended that May 1951 should be treated as his date of birth and sought the view of three former Chief Justices of India to seek support. However,in view of the controversy,the Defence Ministry had sought the opinion of Law Ministry as well as Attorney General,which opined that May 10,1950 should be treated as the date of birth since it was entered in the UPSC form and if there had been any discrepancy,it should have been corrected within two years. Gen Singh is now expected to be succeeded by Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Bikram Singh,who will be the seniormost Lt Gen at the time of Singh's retirement. As the controversy continued to rage,the Defence Ministry had sought the opinion of the Attorney General G E Vahanvati within a span of a month recently and both times he opined that the Army Chief's date of birth should be treated as May 10,1950 as recorded in the UPSC application form filled for entry into the National defence Academy. This was validated by the Law Ministry. The Attorney General's opinion was contrary to the "independent and private" opinions the Army had sought from two retired judges,Justice J S Verma and Justice G B Patnaik who had reportedly said that May 10,1951 should be considered as Gen Singh's date of birth. Sources said the Defence Ministry had not taken kindly the fact that the Army Chief was seeking opinion from retired Chief Justices. The Adjutant General's branch of the Army had sought the opinion of the two ex-chief justices after the Attorney General in his first opinion said that the May 10,1950 date cannot be altered as it would lead to serious legal disputes. The first opinion given by a Joint Secretary rank officer of the Law Ministry officer posted at Defence Ministry in February this year had said that Gen Singh's date of birth be treated as May 10,1951. The Joint Secretary-rank officer's decision became public when an RTI was filed.
