Govt. goes ahead with process of appointing new Army Chief

BJP has been opposing the appointment of the next Army chief by the UPA Government, arguing there was no hurry to do so and the matter should be left to the next government.

The appointment of incumbent Chief Gen Singh was done three months prior to the retirement of his predecessor Gen V K Singh, who had a turbulent relationship with the Defence Ministry and even dragged the government to the Supreme Court over his age controversy.

Significantly, during the last days of his tenure as Army Chief, V K Singh had put a ‘discipline and vigilance ban' on Lt Gen Dalbir Suhag, then 3 Corps Commander, for the “failure of command and control” as an intelligence unit under him had allegedly carried out dacoity in Jorhat in Assam outside the jurisdiction of the Corps.

The ban was lifted soon after Bikram Singh took over as Army Chief and appointed Suhag as the Eastern Army Commander.