Four Generals among nine indicted in Land Scam: Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Dear Veterans,
Regards.Find below two news from Tribune for your information,
please.

Land Scam :Four Generals among
nine indicted Army promotions,
postings under scanner
Vijay MohanTribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 9-The count is now four Generals and
five other officers who have been held blameworthy for alleged
collusion and lapses to lease land near Siliguri to a group of
businessmen to build an educational centre adjoining a sensitive
Army establishment.
Sources close to the investigation said the COI has recommended
disciplinary action against at least five officers and
administrative action against others.
As a fallout of this, the court of inquiry (COI) that investigated
the matter has recommended that the recent promotions and
postings of certain officers based at various places be
investigated.The COI,headed by Lt Gen KT Parnaik, General
Officer Commanding 4 Corps,Tezpur, concluded on December
3, sources said. The senior-most officer to be blamed in this
matter, Lt Gen Avdesh Prakash is the Military Secretary at
Army Headquarters and responsible for the officer cadre
management, including promotions and postings. Sources
said the opinion was that some promotions and postings
could have been manipulated to benefit certain officers for
their alleged acts of omission and commission.
Besides General Prakash, the other officers held blameworthy
include Lt Gen PK Rath, the commander of 33 Corps who
was tomove as the Deputy Chief of Army Staff at Army
Headquarters before his posting was cancelled. The other
two Generals include a corps commander in the western
sector and a Major-General on staff appointment at
Headquarters Western Command. Both had served in the
northeast before their promotion.
The findings and recommendations of the COI are now
before the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern
Command, Lt.Gen.VK Singh for further action. The number
of officers that finally face disciplinary action and
administrative action would depend on a review of the COI
proceedings at command headquarters andthe directions
of the GCO-in-C thereof.
Sources said that a separate COI has also been recommended
to investigate some similar lapses pertaining to military land
in the area near Gangtok in Sikkim, which also comes under
the territorial jurisdiction of 33 Corps. Given its history and
location, Sikkim is extremely sensitive politically,
diplomatically and militarily.


Blow to Air Force, 101 pilots queue
up at exit doorAjay Banerjee:
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December :Call it the lure of the fast-growing private
aviation sector or inadequate salaries, more than 100 pilots of
the Indian Air Force (IAF) have applied for premature
retirementin the past one year. This high number comes less
than year after the services were locked in a very bitter
public spat with the bureaucracy on wages.
The IAF has some 1,500 pilots in total and it has projected
shortfall of some 300 pilots in future as it expands
squadrons of fighters and adds more choppers. The IAF has
already hiked the intake of pilots in its training academies
and now they take around 260 trainees in each annual course,
up from 190 trainee earlier. Defence Minister AK Antony gave
out the fact that 101 pilots -- most of who are highly skilled
in flying fighters, choppers and transport planes -- have
applied for a premature retirement. Antony told Rajya Sabha
that the broad reasons furnished by the applicants for grant
of premature retirement are supersession, lack of career
progression, medical/compassionate grounds etc. Such
applications are considered on a case-to-case basis in
accordance with extant government policy and service
exigencies. Antony said efforts were being made to carry out a
proactive publicity campaign to reach the target group
across the country. The number of retirement seekers has
gone up despite the government having made claims that the
sixth pay commission had addressed the needs and
aspirations of defence personnel. Separately, the
government today said IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal PK
Barbora’sremarks that politics was impinging badly on the
country’s military requirements were his “personal views”.
“The IAF Vice Chief had expressed his personal views
during his talk at a seminar while referring to the delays
that had occurred in the past in procurement of aircraft
and systems,”
Antony said in reply to a Rajya Sabha query. Meanwhile,
replying to another query, the Defence Minister said the
DRDO had enteredinto a joint venture with Israeli Aircraft
Industries (IAI) to develop a long range and medium
range surface-to-air missile systems.

Vetrean Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
President,
Indian Ex-Srevices League ,Punjab & Chandigarh.
Mob.098554-09128,Tele-Fax o175-5000896.