New Delhi, April 14
Indian Army Chief General VK Singh, who is supposed to retire in June next year, may enjoy an extended tenure and he could now retire an year later in June 2013. The final decision to extend his will rest with the government.

This development has taken place following a clarification regarding the General’s exact age. The Law Ministry has cleared the confusion over his age following a discrepancy in his service records. The Law Ministry has opined that General Singh's correct date of birth is May 10, 1951, and not May 10, 1950 which he had accepted after controversy about his age surfaced around 2008, when he was being considered for appointment as Eastern Army Commander.

The Army Chief's date of birth varies in records of the Adjutant General's and Military Secretary's branches. The AG branch, the official record keeper for salary and pension, has May 10, 1951 as Singh's date of birth but the Military Secretary's (MS) branch, in charge of promotions and postings, records his date of birth as May 10, 1950.

The Army, for replying to an RTI query about the age of its top-level officers, had through the Defence Ministry sought Law Ministry's opinion if date of birth mentioned in the matriculation certificate could be used for ascertaining correct age. “The Law Ministry answered in affirmative saying the correct age of Army chief should be May 10, 1951 as the matriculation certificate is the valid document for date of birth proof,” Defence Ministry sources said here.

As per rules, an Army Chief can serve for three years or up to the age of 62, whichever is earlier. "The Ministry of Defence is still studying the situation," said sources, while explaining the present status of the case in the Ministry. Even if his ‘correct’ date birth his accepted he will complete three years of service in March 2013 as he joined in March 2010.

The varying date of birth of Singh in Military Secretary's branch had come up at the time when Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash was heading it and possibly, till 2008, the General himself did not know of the discrepancy.

Following the confusion, the Army Chief had told theContinued on page 13 Defence Ministry that he did not have any knowledge about MS branch records having a different date of birth. The confusion stems from the form he filled when he was 15 years old and signed up to join the national defence academy (NDA) at Pune.

The clerk handling his papers for the UPSC exams listed the teenage Singh as 16 instead of 15.

While his matriculation certificate had the exact date of birth, the MS branch some how recorded it wrongly. If the Defence Ministry decides to extended the tenure of the Chief, it could upset the plans of several other senior Army officers.

Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, the Eastern Army Commander and Lieutenant General KT Parnaik, the Northern Army Commander, head of the line of candidates for the next Army Chief.