The last act: India appoints new army chief

Outgoing Congress-led government faces intense criticism for the last-minute appointment.

NEW DELHI:

In what might be its last act, India’s outgoing government on Tuesday named Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next army chief ahead of General Bikram Singh’s retirement on July 31.

According to sources, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the recommendation made by the defence ministry.

Accusing the government of rushing through the appointment, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposed the move as the decision comes weeks before the Congress-led government’s term expires.

However, the Congress-led alliance refuted the allegations saying that it was not a political decision. It added that it had followed the seniority principle and that it has stuck to the tradition of naming a chief two months ahead of the sitting chief’s retirement.

On Monday, the Indian election commission gave a nod to the defence ministry to initiate the process of appointing the next army chief.

Meanwhile, BJP Lok Sabha candidate and former army chief General VK Singh slammed defence ministry’s decision to go ahead with the process of appointing a new army chief, terming it ‘ethically’ wrong.

Interestingly , during the last days of his tenure as former army chief, VK Singh had put a ‘discipline and vigilance ban’ on Lt Gen Dalbir Suhag, then 3 Corps Commander, for the “failure of command and control” as an intelligence unit under him had allegedly carried out dacoity in Jorhat in Assam outside the jurisdiction of the Corps.

The ban was lifted soon after Bikram Singh took over as army chief and appointed Suhag as the Eastern Army Commander.

Lt Gen Suhag, a Gurkha officer, is currently the vice chief of army staff and the senior most among the Lt Generals. He will have a tenure of 30 months as the chief of the force when he takes over from General Singh.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2014.