Military Secretary faces court martial :Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Source: The Hindu .
Military Secretary faces court martial
Special Correspondent
Army Chief accepts Defence Minister advice
DELHI: The Army Chief, General Deepak Kapoor, on Friday
accepted the advice of Defence Minister A. K. Antony by
ordering court martial proceedings against Military
Secretary Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash for his
alleged involvement in a land scam in the Darjeeling
area of West Bengal. He would be the first three-star
general to face such action.General Kapoor was overruled
by Mr. Antony, who felt that the alleged misdemeanours of
General Prakash were serious enough to merit a court
martial and not just disciplinary proceedings preferred by
the Army Chief.As Military Secretary, General Prakash is
one of the closest aides to the Army Chief in dealing with
daily mattersand policy planning. The general is due to
retire in a couple of days.
General Prakash was indicted in an internal probe at
the command level along with the then 33 Corps Commander,
Lieutenant General P.K. Rath, his Chief of Staff at that time,
Lieutenant General Ramesh Halgali and the then Brigadier
Administration, Major GeneralP.C. Sen. Following a court of
inquiry, Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General V.K.
Singh, who will be the next Army Chief, recommended
termination of services of General Prakash and
administrative action against the other officers.The
controversy arose after General Kapoor recommended
court martial proceedings against Lieutenant General
Rath and issued ashow-cause notice to others for
administrative action. It was felt by many in the Army
that General Kapoor was being unfair as the
same punishment ought to have been meted out to all
four officers.Mr. Antony overruled the Army Chief.
The officers were found culpable by an internal probe
of overruling their predecessors and issuing a
no-objection certificate to a private developer for leasing
71 acres of land next to the Sukna military station near
Darjeeling.
The developer was also found to have falsely represented
that he would open an educational institution affiliated
to the prestigiousMayo College, Ajmer. The probe at the
command level allegedly indicted Lieutenant General Rath
for inking a pact with the property developer provided a
certain percentage of seats was reserved for children of
armed forces personnel.Lieutenant General Prakash was
seen as being too interested in the case and persuading
his juniors to pursue the deal. Lieutenant General
Halgali was alleged to have suppressed information from
his seniors and Major General P.C. Sen was said to have
played anactive role in discussions with the developer
during his tenureat 33 Corps headquarters.