New Delhi, May 3
The Election Commission will next week decide on a reference made by the Ministry of Defence seeking to appoint a new Army Chief. The tenure of the present Chief, General Bikram Singh, ends on July 31. In the recent past, service Chiefs have been appointed almost three months in advance and the MoD is of the opinion that it is not doing anything wrong and only following the principle of seniority.

No decision has yet been made on the MoD reference, sources in the Election Commission said this morning, adding that media reports of a decision having been taken to stall the appointment were no more than speculation. EC authorities said the full commission - the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners - is slated to meet next week (likely on Monday or Tuesday) and the decision will be conveyed to the MoD.

The sources expressed surprise at the MoD reference, saying the commission’s March-27 instructions were explicit. It had said: “The model code of conduct is not applicable to any matter pertaining to Defence forces, be it recruitments, promotions for Defence forces, all service matters pertaining to them...”.

New Navy Chief Admiral Robin Dhowan was appointed after these instructions. The MoD’s fresh reference for the Army Chief stems more out of Defence Minister AK Antony’s cautious approach. “We want to strictly follow all procedures before taking any final decision on the issue,” Antony had said yesterday.

BJP’s Subramanian Swamy had last week petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee asking that the appointment of the next Army Chief be held in abeyance. Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag, the Vice-Chief of the Army, is the front-runner. His appointment is being opposed by Swamy and also by former Army Chief General VK Singh (retd), BJP’s candidate from Ghaziabad.

In case Suhag loses out, the gainer will be Southern Army Commander Lt General Ashok Singh, whose son is married to General VK Singh’s daughter.

Swamy in his letter said: “The government's endeavour to announce the next Chief is in direct contravention of the established convention, both in terms of timeframe and also with regards to certain ongoing investigations."

Sources in the Ministry of Defence said Swamy was wrong on both counts. One, the time frame between May 16 (the date of counting for the General Election) and July 31 is 76 days, while in the past appointments have been made nearly three months in advance.

Admiral DK Joshi, who had recently quit, was appointed 87 days prior to his taking over, while his predecessor Admiral Nirmal Verma had a 85-period as Chief-designate and General Bikram Singh was appointed 89 days in advance.

Previous Chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne was appointed 73 days in advance, while his predecessor Air Chief Marshal PV Naik had a similar period as Chief-designate when he was appointed on March 3, 2009.