Admiral Bhagwat sacked
Sushil Kumar is new Navy chief
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 30 — In an unprecedented move, the government today sacked the Navy chief, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, and appointed Vice- Admiral Sushil Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding-In-Chief, Southern Command, Cochin, as his successor.

"The government has terminated the services of the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Bhagwat, with immediate effect," an official announcement said.

Vice-Admiral Sushil Kumar, who is in the capital, has received the orders appointing him as the new Navy chief. The new incumbent was commissioned in January, 1961, and belongs to the executive branch of the Navy and is a specialist in amphibious warfare and hydrography.

Vice-Admiral Sushil Kumar has seen action in all major operations, including the 1961 Goa operations and the Indo-Pakistan conflicts of 1965 and 1971.

In a related development, the government also transferred the Defence Secretary, Mr Ajit Kumar, to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Mr T.R. Prasad, at present Secretary, Industrial Policy and Promotion, replaces Mr Kumar as the new Defence Secretary.

The sack order of Admiral Bhagwat is the culmination of a nearly year-long controversy that saw the Navy chief and the Defence Ministry at loggerheads.

The controversy erupted after the Navy chief declared unimplementable the order of the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), headed by the Prime Minister, placing Vice-Admiral Harinder Singh, who is the Fortress Commander of the Tri-Service Command at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations). The DCNS is a Principal Staff Officer to the Navy chief.

Admiral Bhagwat while challenging the ACC’s decision had gone on by the interpretation of the Navy Act which says: "The appointment of officers of all branches of the rank of Captain and above, shall be made by the government on the recommendation of the Chief of Naval Staff."

Based on this interpretation, the Navy chief had recommended Vice- Admiral Madanjit Singh to the post of DCNS. Defence Ministry officials, however, did not concur with the view of the Naval chief.

The Defence Ministry contended that its recommendation in favour of Vice Admiral Harinder Singh was mainly based on the principle of seniority.

It was for the first time in the history of Independent India that a service headquarter had refused to implement the order of an incumbent government.

In fact, the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes had written a letter to Admiral Bhagwat questioning his opposition to the appointment of Vice Admiral Harinder Singh.

According to official sources, the government’s decision was due for some time and it was probably deferred as Parliament was in session.

Admiral Bhagwat had also come in for criticism when he levelled serious charges of collusion against the Defence Secretary and other senior bureaucrats in the Defence Ministry in a petition in the Mumbai High Court. The petition was dismissed by the court.

A new twist was added to the stand-off between Naval Headquarters and the Defence Ministry recently when four senior officers, including Vice-Admiral Sushil Kumar, filed a statutory complaint seeking an appropriate posting in the Navy.

The complaints followed the government’s decision to extend the retirement age across the board by two years, increasing the number of candidates suitable for the top posts in the Navy in the future.

Tahliani decries Bhagwat’s sack

NEW DELHI, Dec 30 (PTI) — Former Navy chief R.H. Tahliani tonight reacted strongly to the dismissal of Admiral Bhagwat saying the government’s "totally unwarranted" action would have serious repercussions on the morale of the armed forces.

"It is terrible and totally unwarranted," Admiral Tahliani said asserting that the issue should have been sorted out through discussion.

Talking to a private television network, Admiral Tahliani said government’s decision showed "total lack of sensitivity" and maintained that the move could affect the morale of the Navy and the two other services.

Replying to question on the row between the government and Admiral Bhagwat over the appointment of Vice- Admiral Harinder Singh as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (DCNS), he said "I am not a privy to what has transpired between the government and the Chief of Navy Staff.

"Differences of opinion have always existed. They are healthy," Admiral Tahliani said while conceding that he would not suggest that the recommendation of the Navy chief over an appointment should be binding on the government.

"But.... the government cannot force the Chief of Naval Staff to have a DCNS in whom he (the Navy chief) has no confidence," he said.

The CPI today condemned the sacking of Admiral Bhagwat saying he had become a victim of "saffronisation of politics".

CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan said "communal colours were added by insinuating that Bhagwat’s wife was a Muslim and a communist."

Condemning what he described as "civilian control over the military", Mr Bardhan said instead of resolving the question of appointments in the Navy, Admiral Bhagwat was made "a victim of the bureaucracy."

The new Naval chief, Sushil Kumar, today said the naval force would have to "ensure" its service in the best interest of the nation.

Kumar, who was Chief of the Southern Command, told reporters shortly after announcement of his appointment that "Naval force has stood by long standing tradition of serving the country and we will have to do our duty".

Talking to reporters he said the force would have to run "efficiently and in proficient manner"

Bhagwat's wife hits out

new delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) — Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat tonight reacted guardedly to his dismissal as Chief of Naval Staff but his lawyer-wife strongly denounced government’s action saying it was motivated by "communal politics", corruption and kissa kursi ka".

In her sharp reaction to the sacking, Ms Niloufer Bhagwat said her husband had decided not to challenge the order in any court as "the country will react more seriously".

"It was for (government’s) survival and (because of) pressures from the Akalis and the BJP itself. The decision was violative of the rule of law as well as the navy rules", she told reporters at their official residence.

Admiral Bhagwat "paid a price and it is necessary that he paid it. The country puts persons into highest offices not to serve men but the institutions. It is time for others to stand up. His sacrifice will instil spirit among the people".

"We could have got a stay order from the Supreme Court as we were expecting this (sacking) for some time. The Admiral will not move the court and I believe that the country will react more seriously to his dismissal than to his remaining in office", she said.

"The Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Defence Minister are all bound by the rule of law. None of them can arrogate to themselves a royal prerogative of dismissing or appointing anybody", Ms Bhagwat said.

Referring to the writ petition moved by her husband in 1990 to get appointed as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Ms Bhagwat said the real issue was the "sale of high offices of the Indian Navy. Fleet commanders’ appointments were going for monetary considerations, for extraneous reasons".

"The legal issue was that his ACR (annual confidential report) was replaced and substituted by another. And there was evidence to that effect", she said.

"The Admiral (Bhagwat) called for a probe into disproportionate assets of the then Navy chief. Fearing that criminal prosecution would lead to more dirty linen being washed in public, the government constituted an income tax probe against the then chief", Ms Bhagwat said.

Stating that her husband wanted to make his office "accountable", she said he was aware of the consequences of his action. He was also aware that law was in his favour.

Asked to comment on the charge that she was a Communist card holder, Ms Bhagwat said "This was because of my role as the CPM counsel before the Srikrishna Commission (on Mumbai riots) which got the saffron parties fixed".

"If pleading for textile, handloom or powerloom workers or for minimum wages or providing legal advice to the poor who cannot afford is to become a Communist, that is why I am being labelled as one", she said, adding that the ruling parties were "reeling under the McCarthyist syndrome" as was being done in the 40s and 50s in the USA to hound out Communists and other anti-establishment forces.

Setting wrong precedent
By Harwant Singh

THE unprecedented step by the government in sacking the Naval chief has sent shock waves, not only in the Indian Navy but in the entire defence services of the country and this step by the government will shatter their morale and have long-term repercussions. If the controversy in the Naval HQ and the MoD has been simmering for some time, the fault in not resolving it is entirely with the government albeit the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

The Naval Act of 1957 enjoins on the government to appoint officers of the rank of captains and above in various posts based on the recommendations of the Chief of the Naval Staff. The ACC in appointing Vice-Admiral Harinder Singh as the Deputy Chief (DCONS) had gone against the wishes of the Naval chief. It can be argued that the ACC (where the PM is the Chairman) had acted within it’s powers. But the more important issue is as to what additional inputs were available or made available to the ACC to take a decision contrary to the Chief’s recommendations. Did the MoD note to the ACC indicate two key issues and these being, the Chief’s recommendations and the known and demonstrated hostility and rank disloyalty of the officer to the Naval chief, amounting to calling him names. Perhaps the MoD note on the subject sent to the ACC would throw correct light on the subject and clear the suspected conspiracy and collusion. This posting designed to ‘torpedo’ the Naval chief would have in fact ‘depth charged’ the Indian Navy.

Service in the defence forces is quite apart from any other calling. While soldiering demands many attributes in men and officers unheard of in civil life and service, the requirement of one key quality, called loyalty runs like a warp thread in the tapestry of military thought and action. This key element is mandatory in the character of a soldier and an officer. When that gets subverted then his utility to service, particularly in an operational setting becomes not only worthless but in fact, deleterious to the very cause. Therefore, no military commander can possibly have a subordinate whose loyalty to him is anything other than complete. That has been the raison de etre of the Naval chief’s stand in not accepting Vice-Admiral Harinder Singh as his deputy.