New Delhi, December 11
Army Chief General V K Singh is learnt to have urged Defence Minister A K Antony to expedite the decision on his statutory complaint which asked the Government to treat May 10, 1951 as his date of birth, which will give him ten more months in office.

The Defence Ministry had decided on July 21 that the earlier date of May 10, 1950 will be considered as Gen Singh’s date of birth on the basis of two opinions given by the Attorney General and the Law Ministry and this was stated by the Defence Minister in Parliament also.

After the Ministry took this decision, Singh had levelled allegations that the Defence Ministry "lacked objectivity" and was "biased" on his age issue.

Singh is slated to retire on June 1, 2012, but if 1951 is accepted as the year of birth he may remain in office for another 10 months.

Gen Singh had filed a statutory complaint with the Defence Minister on August 25 seeking a re-examination on the issue, in a first by an Army Chief.

The General had asked Antony to take a decision on his date of birth purely on the basis of merit and available evidence.

Gen Singh is learnt to have sent the reminder with the Minister more than 90 days after he had submitted his statutory complaint.

As per the Army Act, a statutory complaint has to be addressed within 90 days but the Defence Ministry says these rules are not applicable to the Minister or the Ministry.

Army headquarters refused to comment on the development and so was Gen Singh’s office.

Meanwhile, Defence Ministry sources said the Ministry was still processing the "voluminous" statutory complaint received from the Army Chief and if and when such a reminder comes, it will be taken note off.

The complaint filed by Gen Singh, along with the documents he has annexed to support his claim, runs into almost 500 pages and includes all the previous correspondences with the Ministry on this issue.

The controversy on Gen Singh's age surfaced in 2008 when he was considered to be appointed as Eastern Army Commander. The Adjutant General's (AG) branch--the official record keeper for salary and pension - has been following 1951 as his birth year while the MS branch, which looks after promotions and postings, shows it as 1950. — PTI