New Delhi, January 29
Bringing down the curtains on the controversy surrounding the infamous Darjeeling land scam, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor today ordered court martial proceedings against Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, a military secretary and the senior-most three-star officer ever to face such an action.
Acting on an unprecedented “advice” from Defence Minister AK Antony, the Army chief issued the instructions for action against Lt Gen Prakash for his role in the issuance of a no-objection certificate to a private firm that falsely claimed to be establishing an affiliate of Ajmer-based Mayo College on the land adjacent to Sukhna cantonment in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
Initially, General Kapoor had recommended administrative action against Lt Gen Prakash, who was to retire in two days, and had okayed disciplinary action against Lt Gen PK Rath, the then GoC of the 33 Corps at Darjeeling.
Senior Defence Ministry officials confirmed that the “Army chief had ordered disciplinary action against Lt Gen Prakash, who will face a court martial… The chief stuck to the advice from Antony in the case.”
Separately, Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali and Maj Gen P Sen will face administrative action. Show-cause notices had been issued to them about two weeks ago. A court of inquiry ordered by the Eastern Army Commander,
Lt Gen VK Singh, who is the Army chief-designate, had recommended “termination of service” for Lt Gen Prakash and administrative action against the other officers.
A court martial could even lead to imprisonment and being “cashiered” from service, which entails loss of rank, decorations and all post-retirement benefits, all depending on the severity of charges. However, Lt Gen Prakash would now get an opportunity to defend himself in the case.
Commenting on today’s move, retired Army officers opined that General Kapoor knew that the unprecedented “advice” from Antony was like an order, which had to be complied with. “It was almost clear that the General was not to defy Antony. The Minister’s clout within the Congress and his clean image was well known and a defiance would not have gone down well. Also, historically any defiance by the men in uniform has been viewed with suspicion by the elected representatives of Parliament,” they said.
One such recent case was in 2008 when the then Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had refused to implement the “insufficient” recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. He was asked to tow the line. The opposition parties and the media joined in telling how the Admiral was wrong while being totally in favour of “better pay and perks” for the forces.
Lastly, General Kapoor knew the implications even if he had opted to differ with Antony -- the Minister could have issued instructions himself, which could have caused even more embarrassment. “It was not a policy decision on national security that the Chief should stick to his own line and stand up to the Minister,” said an officer.
