New Delhi: The Chief of Army Gen Dalbir Singh, has accused the former Chief of Army Gen. V.K. Singh, the present minister of state for external affairs, of victimising him with the sole purpose of denying him promotion as Army Commander.
An appeal filed by Lt Gen. (Retd) Ravi Dastane, alleging favourtism during his selection as Army Commander is due to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court shortly.
Mr Dastane alleged that he was eligible to be the Army Commander but was denied the opportunity by General Bikram Singh who had favoured Gen. Dalbir Singh despite the fact that he was under a DV ban at the relevant time.
The ministry of defence, in its affidavit had already rejected Mr Dastane’s contentions and had also censured the manner in which Mr V.K. Singh had placed Mr Dalbir Singh under DV ban.
In his reply the Army Chief Dalbir Singh said that he was the victim and not the appellant as is being made out. He said “I was sought to be victimised by Gen Singh, the then COAS with the sole purpose of denying me promotion to the post of Army Commander. False, baseless and imaginary allegations of lapses were leveled against me in the Show Cause Notice. No material whatsoever of attendant circumstances was provided to me. The Show Cause Notice issued, besides suffering from vagueness, was premeditated and also against the principles of Natural Justice. Despite there being no evidence against me at the Court of Inquiry, the Show Cause Notice was issued malafidely.”
