Army fails to be even-handed -- only one pays for Tehelka

Army fails to be even-handed -- only one pays for Tehelka
GAURAV C. SAWANT

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21: The Army appears to be following two sets of rules in taking action against top military generals and other officers caught on camera asking for and accepting bribes to clear military equipment.

While Major General P.S.K. Choudhary, Additional Director General, Weapons and Equipment (ADG-WE), has been suspended for accepting Rs 100,000 and a gold chain as bribe, none of the other officers who figure on the tapes -- Major General M.S. Ahluwalia, Brigadier Iqbal Singh and Colonel Anil Sehgal -- have been placed under suspension.

And neither Lt Gen S.S. Grewal, Adjutant General, nor Major General Pandya, ADG (Discipline and Vigilance), can explain the reason. ``I don't know. Please do not ask me,'' Grewal said.

According to the Tehelka tapes, Brigadier Iqbal Singh had accepted Rs 50,000 as bribe from the journalists posing as arms agents peddling hand-held thermal imagers (HHTIs) for jawans; Colonel Anil Sehgal had taken Rs 40,000; and Maj Gen Ahluwalia had demanded a bottle of Blue label scotch whiskey. They have been simply attached to the Army Headquarters for the duration of the Court of Inquiry (CoI).

``This means that none of the officers (except Choudhary) lose out on either their salary or their perks during the duration of the CoI since none of them are considered as an accused by the Army at this stage,'' highly-placed sources said.

The Army headquarters has been drawing criticism both from within and outside for following two sets of rules in dealing with the same allegation -- corruption. ``These officers had been boasting of clout within the Service headquarters. They have lowered the image of their unit and the Army. These are grounds enough for suspension pending an inquiry. However, in this case they have accepted bribes. In case they are innocent, they could be reinstated with all benefits,'' said an official.

As per records, except Choudhary, none of the other officers has been charged with corruption as yet nor has disciplinary action been taken against them. They have only been attached to the Army headquarters to assist the court to get to the bottom of the allegations. However, the same is not the case with Major General Choudhary. He is an officer under suspension and the moment he is suspended, he loses out on his pay and perks.

An official at the Discipline and Vigilance (DV) branch of the Army Headquarters said that Maj Gen Choudhary had been placed under suspension because he had confessed to the allegations and none of the others had. ``Therefore there is already a prima facie case against him and not against the others. The CoI will view the tapes and find out whether they accepted money or not. Only after that they would be suspended or placed under open arrest if need be,'' he said.

However, again this does not appear to be true since none of the other persons suspended by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confessed accepting bribes.