Govt starts process of picking new Army chief

The issue of Army Chief General V K Singhs correct date of birth is yet to be resolved

The government has initiated the process of appointing a new Army Chief even as the issue of Army Chief General V K Singhs correct date of birth is yet to be resolved after he filed a statutory complaint with the Defence Ministry.

The dossiers of four senior most officers who will be in service when Singhs tenure ends in May next year are being processed. While Lt Gen Bikram Singh,who is heading the Eastern Command and is the senior most,is set to be appointed as the next chief,the names of all four are being processed as per the procedure.

Sources said while Lt Gen S R Ghosh,who is heading the Western Command,will retire early next year,the others include Northern Army Commander Lt Gen K T Parnaik and Central Army Commander Lt Gen V K Ahluwalia.

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The formal process of appointment will begin next month. The government is looking at announcing the new Army Chief by March next year. It is learnt that vetting of all the dossiers by intelligence agencies has been completed and all have been cleared.

Meanwhile,the ministry is yet to reply to General V K Singhs complaint on his date of birth. The MoD had forwarded the complaint to the Law Ministry,which is learnt to have upheld its earlier stand that the Army Chiefs date of birth should be deemed to be May 10,1950 and not one year later as his birth certificate records.

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