Age row: Govt withdraws Dec 30 order

The government of India on Friday withdrew the Dec 30 order that rejected Army chief General V K Singh's statutory complaint on his age row.

Attorney General of India Goolam E Vahanvati stated the decision of the government to withdraw the order to the Supreme Court, media reports said.

However, he informed the court that the government was sticking to the July 21 and July 22, 2011 orders that turned down Singh´s plea on the age row.

Singh, in an unprecedented move, had taken the government to Supreme Court after his statutory complaint before defence minister A K Antony with his demand was rejected.

Singh, who is slated to retire on May 31, 2012, according to the government, could claim to be in service until March 31, 2013 if his contention is upheld.

Singh claims that his year of birth is 1951 and not 1950 as recorded by the Ministry of Defence, saying that the error cropped up due to a clerk who had listed his age as 16 instead of 15 in the Union Public Services (UPSC) examination form for National Defence Academy.

Earlier on Feb 3 , the apex court had deferred the hearing, drubbing the government over the way it had rejected the Army chief's plea regarding a correction in his birth date, asking the administration to explain its stand over the row.

Questioning the way in which General Singh´s plea for revising his official date of birth was rejected, the apex court gave more time to the Union government and Army chief to resolve the matter out of court.

The Supreme Court observed that the government had violated "the principles of natural justice" in the manner that it rejected the General´s appeal in Dec.

The court also observed that the entire decision-making process was vitiated since the government sought the opinion of the attorney general in the matter twice.