to def ministryNew Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) A parliamentary committee hasasked the defence ministry to immediately streamline theselection process to confer gallantry awards to defencepersonnel, insisting that the exercise must be transparent.
The recommendation by the Committee on Petitions of theLok Sabha came after an alleged lapse by the then authoritiesconcerned in recognising sacrifices of an armyman during theIndo-Pak war in 1965 was brought to its notice.
In a representation to the panel, the son of late MajorMohan Singh had mentioned that his father died while fightingthe enemy during the 1965 war but his sacrifice was notattributed to death in action by the Army, depriving him ofthe gallantry award.
The parliamentary panel asked the defence ministry toundertake a fresh exercise on the basis of available recordsto determine whether there was any lapse in recognising the"martyrdom" of Singh as 'battle casualty' attributable tomilitary service with effect from 1965.
The petitioner, Brigadier (retd) N B Singh has alsostated that after almost 50 years, the Army headquarters hasacknowledged his father's sacrifice and "conceded" his deathas a 'Battle Field Casualty'.
The committee recommended to the defence ministry to takeimmediate remedial measures to streamline the selectionprocess for gallantry awards to obviate recurrence of suchincidents in future.
It observed that the incident showed that the entireselection process of conferment of gallantry awards was nottransparent.
"There is no doubt that the selection process forconferment of gallantry awards needs to be made more rigorousand meticulous in order to choose only those defence personnelwho had exhibited exceptional valour during war," it said.
At the same time, it said, the whole exercise should betransparent and objective so that there is no scope foraccusations from any quarters.
As per official records, Major Singh was from 6 Rajputbattalion which was deployed in Chhamb-Jaurian sector of Jammuand Kashmir during the 1965 war.
Singh had died in an ambush by the enemy while he andsome other troops were laying mines in the area of operationof the battalion on September 14, 1965.
The committee said that when it asked the defenceministry on possibility of conferring Late Singh with ParamVir Chakra or any other gallantry award posthumously, it ruledout relaxation in laid down rules, saying honours and awardsare conferred within a specific period of two calender yearsfrom the date of the act.
"Since, the act mentioned in the petition took place 50years ago, the case cannot be considered at this stage,"according to submission before the committee by the ministry.
PTI MPBRT.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.