No civil-military conflict: Antony

Defence Minister AK Antony on Tuesday blamed Army for creating the controversy over the age of Indian Army Chief General VK Singh.

He said that for 36 years Army kept two set of Singh´s date of birth and it created all the troubles, media reports said.

He refused to take the controversy as a civil-military conflict.

Antony said that the Supreme Court´s verdict on the issue will be ´final´.

Earlier, he had said that he felt ´sad´ to see that the government and Singh got involved in the controversy.

"I feel sorry and sad about the controversy," Antony said.

Singh had dragged the government to the court as he filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court over the age row.

In response to the move made by Singh, the government also filed a caveat in the Supreme Court in connection with the ongoing controversy over Singh´s age.

Troubles erupted when Singh claimed that his year of birth is 1951 and not 1950 as recorded by the Ministry of Defence.

The official records of the Army show two different dates of birth for Singh.

In one record, his date of birth is maintained as May 10, 1951 and the other show him to be born on May 10, 1950.

Singh is likely to retire from his post in 2012 as the Ministry rejected his application seeking a correction of his date of birth.

He said that the controversies erupted due to a form that he had filled up at the age of 15.

He claimed that the clerk had listed his age as 16 instead of 15 in the Union Public Services (UPSC) examination form for National Defence Academy.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was filed in favour of Singh by an association of ex-army officers in connection to the age row.