Army’s flawed succession chain may delay increase in official retirement age
3 Jun 2013 12:21 AM GMT
The government decision to increase the age of superannuation from the current 60 years to 62 years is getting delayed on the account of its potential to disturb the succession chain of the armed forces brass. According to a senior government functionary, having burnt its fingers with the ‘tantrum-throwing’ and ‘prone to agitating on the street’ former chief of army staff in General VK Singh, the government now wants to act with caution.
If the age of superannuation is increased between now and December from 60 to 62 years, this would bring the present Vice Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General SK Singh in the race, who is otherwise scheduled to retire in December this year. A chief, according to present rules, cannot have more than three years in office or 62 years of age. In the case of age of superannuation going up, Bikram would at best be allowed to remain in office till summer of 2015, handing over the baton to General SK Singh. The Vice-Chief is seen as camp follower of General VK Singh, who had appointed SK Singh to the position overlooking the claims of officers senior to him including General Bikram Singh.
The government is worried at the change in succession plans, which witnessed a huge controversy during the change of guard last summer when General Bikram Singh took the baton over from General VK Singh. Days before demitting office, VK Singh had tried raising obstacles in the promotion of Lieutenant General DS Suhag, who is presently the General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C), Eastern Command. Suhag, as per present succession plans, is scheduled to take over from Bikram, when he hangs his spurs in December 2014. Cases of human rights violations were also filed against Bikram Singh in the run-up to his elevation.
However, the Ministry of Defence is mulling over another plan. The present chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, who is also the chairman of the Chiefs of Defence Staff Committee (CDSC), which looks after inter-service coordination, is scheduled to retire in December this year. Thereafter General Bikram Singh would take over as the chairman, CDSC and the government could at that time operationalise the recommendations of the Naresh Chandra high powered committee on national security making Bikram Singh the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
The report submitted in August 2012, among various other suggestions recommends setting up the office of the permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Defence Staff Committee. ‘This would achieve both the purposes. General Bikram Singh would get elevated as CDS and General Suhag takeover from him as chief of army staff,’ said the source. Its other recommendation of setting up National Defence University was operationalised last month with the prime minister laying the foundation stone for the same at Gurgaon.
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