Defence ministry asks AG branch to reconcile General Singh's date of birth

In a hardening of its stand ahead of the Supreme Court hearing, the defence ministry has directed that the Army's records should be corrected to show that Army Chief Gen V K Singh’s year of birth is 1950, contrary to his stand that he was born one year later.

The ministry had written six days before to the AG’s branch, Army’s official record keeper, which has so far maintained that Singh's date of birth was May 10, 1951, that it should be reconciled with other records which show the date as May 10, 1950.

In its letter, the ministry is understood to have sought a compliance report.

The hearing on the age issue will come up before the apex court on February 3. While the AG's branch has maintained Gen Singh's date of birth as May 10, 1951, the Military Secretary's branch records it as May 10, 1950. The move appears to be to reconcile the two dates in Army records and is an indication of the tough stance of the government against Gen Singh, who has moved the Supreme Court on his age issue. In its first order rejecting Army Chief's contention on July 21, the Defence Ministry had asked the AG's branch to record 1950 as Gen Singh's year of birth.