NEW DELHI: Army chief General V K Singh on Sunday found support from his ex-colleague on his age row with the government. Joining the debate, former Army chief Gen Shankar Roychoudhary said Gen Singh was justified in approaching the highest court of the country to maintain his honour.
In an interview to a television channel, Roychoudhary said Singh was a very honourable man and "I don't think he will compromise on honour unless he was driven to it".
The former Army chief was critical of the manner in which the government handled the whole issue. "Should he (Gen Singh) have gone to court, that is an issue which has to be judged on the basis of overall events," Gen Roychoudhary said.
"It must be examined whether the chief was placed in a position by events in the background and how long they have been going around... Can a chief be placed in certain position by turn of events, the rulings of defence ministry where he has no option but to go to court," he said.
Gen Singh has filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the government's determination of his date of birth as May 10, 1950 as against May 10, 1951 claimed by him.
Asked if it was right for a serving Army chief to have approached the court, Gen Roychowdhury said, "If a serving major or a colonel can go to court, I don't see why a chief can't go to court... He is an Army person with an Army persons' rights."
The former Army chief said it was unjustified to relate it with indiscipline. "There are organisations that take advantage of these principles and force things on Army which it does not like," he added.
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