Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag’s elevation as Army chief faces the possibility of being tripped even at this stage. Despite the clearance from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet under outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, just three days before the UPA government was voted out, Suhag’s celebration on May 13 for being promoted as next Army chief seems only premature.
Sources with knowledge of the appointment issues pointed out to The Sunday Standard that there are at least three issues that could come in the way of Suhag occupying the exalted office on July 31 when incumbent Army chief General Bikram Singh retires.
At least two of these issues have not come out before and with the Narendra Modi government set to take office on Monday, these issues could play spoilsport for Suhag and the new government may review the outgoing UPA government's hurried decision.
Suhag’s appointment is yet to get President Pranab Mukherjee’s nod even 10 days after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, with then Defence Minister A K Antony and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde as members, approved his name for the post of Army chief.
Sources have pointed out the “possibility” that the new government may “not put up the file” before the President for approval and may decide on another officer as the Army chief.
The reasoning being given is that 59-year-old Suhag, who prefers to call himself as Dalbir Singh, was not qualified to be promoted as Army commander in the first place. He was under a Discipline and Vigilance ban, which prevents his promotion to the next rank, on May 31, 2012.
More importantly, he did not possess the mandatory two Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) required as the Dimapur-based 3 Corps commander before he can even be considered for promotion as Army commander. Sources say for any Corps commander to be promoted as Army commander, he needed to possess at least two ACRs during his 11 to 13 months tenure as Corps Commander.
“Suhag did not possess the mandatory two ACRs. This fact was overlooked. He should have had an ACR from his immediate superior of the time, then Eastern Commander General V K Singh. He had only one ACR,” a source said.
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which takes a call on promotion to Army commander, ignored this mandatory rule, which is also a convention. Suhag’s was the only case where this mandatory rule was given a go-by. His case was considered based on extraneous factors of keeping a succession plan in the Army going. Also, he was under a Discipline and Vigilance ban on the day. He should not have been promoted and even considered for promotion as Army commander,” he added.
The source noted that the Discipline and Vigilance ban is not imposed on an officer without reasonable evidence available to court-martial him. General Bikram Singh vacated the ban on Suhag 15 days after General V K Singh retired. General Bikram Singh had succeeded General V K Singh as Army chief.
Suhag had been placed under the ban by General V K Singh during the last days of his tenure as Army chief. This was seen by some as vendetta over the denial of 10 more months of Singh’s tenure as Army chief.
“The ban imposed was based on investigation by the Discipline and Vigilance branch of the Army headquarters and a court of inquiry into a botched-up intelligence operation in the Northeast and illegal killings. There were 15 other Army personnel court-martialed in the illegal killings case and one of them was dismissed while 14 others were delivered severe displeasure as punishment. Suhag too should have been court-martialed. He did not act on complaints of illegal killings that took place in 2010,” the source said.
“The charge against Suhag is not reporting up the chain on the illegal killings and not taking any action against the accused personnel, despite a proper complaint,” the source added.
In fact, a case in the Supreme Court is now pending over the promotion given to Suhag in June 2012, after keeping the post of Army commander “reserved” for him by General Bikram Singh. The case has been filed by Lt Gen Ravi Dastane, who was then the next senior most Lt Gen in the Army and was eligible to be promoted as Army commander against the vacancy that was filled up with retrospective effect by Suhag.
Moreover, Suhag’s name had figured in a procurement scam when he was the commander of the Special Frontier Force (SFF), a specialist unit with Tibetans as its personnel to keep a watch along Chinese borders. Allegations flew thick and fast that kick-backs were paid in the purchase of parachutes for the SFF personnel. Suhag was a Major General when he headed the SFF.
The complaint with regard to the scam submitted by the then Trinamool
Congress MP Ambika Banerjee was sent to the CBI by General V K Singh for investigation. This procurement scam too was not investigated adequately and the CBI case against Suhag was ignored when he was promoted as Army commander in 2012.
The spanner in the works for Suhag’s appointment as Army chief had come in the run-up to the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls when opposition BJP and General V K Singh, now the party’s Ghaziabad MP, raised questions over the “legitimacy” of Suhag being named as next Army chief just three days before UPA-II was voted out of power.