Morale is down in the boots-Sidharth Mishra:Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Army: Morale is down in the boots-Sidharth Mishra
Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor has finally accepted
that morale in the Army was down on the account of senior
Generals being prima facie being found guilty of encouraging
and indulging into corrupt practices. Gen Deepak Kapoor made
this embarrassing admission at his annual Press conference
on the eve of Army Day. “The controversy has dented the image
of the Army,” Gen Kapoor said responding to a question at the
one-hour-long Press meet in New Delhi last week. When
specifically asked whether the jawans and young officers, who
were risking their lives in the defence of the nation, would feel
demoralised at the involvement of senior officers in such a scam,
the Army chief said, “Yes, it was the case.” It’s brave of General
Kapoor to have admitted it but thereafter his elucidation on
the matter remained evasive. On the action to be taken against
Military Secretary Lt General Avadhesh Prakash and three
others who are allegedly involved in the Sukna land controversy,
the General’s answer was not forthright. He said that Sukna
land scam was ‘individual case of misdemeanour and an
aberration’. Nothing is farther from the truth. Corruption in the
Army, for years, had remained limited to service arms like the
Ordnance and Supplies. Later it spread tentacles at the level of
the colonels and brigadiers. It was believed that a tough
promotion policy made it impossible for officers with tainted
background to make it to the General rank. Today we are facing
the spectacle of not one but four General rank officers facing
charges of corruption in the single Sukna case.Corruption level
in the armed forces today has not remained at petty level or
limited to fringe benefits. General Deepak Kapoor’s tenure
would probably be judged by history for surfacing of some most
reprehensible corruption cases. Sukna land scam is not the
first case of corruption among the brass and definitely not an
‘aberration’ as the General would want us to believe. There are
several instances during the present Chief’s tenure which would
not make us easily believe that corruption among the top brass
was just an ‘aberration’ and not the general trend. To begin, the
questionable transfer of Northern Army commander Lt General
HS Panag to a comparatively insignificant Central Command at
the behest of General Kapoor brought focus on a scam which is
said to have taken place when Kapoor was occupying Panag’s
chair as the Army Commander in Udhampur. Significantly,
Panag was transferred when he ordered an enquiry into
irregularities in the purchase of tents and related equipment.
General Panag was posted to the Central Command with just
nine months to go before his retirement as he had invited the
wrath of the Army Headquarters by ordering an inquiry into
irregularities in purchases of tents and related equipment
worth Rs 17 crore from the Army Commander’s special
financial powers fund. The purchases were made when General
Kapoor was heading the Northern Army. The other prominent
case is of a serving General being raided by the CBI. Major
General Anand Kapur of the Ordnance Corp, responsible for
the supply of arms and armaments to the Army, was allowed
to appear before an interview board for promotion to the next
rank despite his premises being raided by the CBI in a case
relating to accumulation of wealth disproportionate to the
known sources of income. The ‘tainted’ General was not only
allowed to appear before the promotion board, headed by the
Chief himself, a month after the raids but the Army HQ also
failed to initiate any move to impose the disciplinary and
vigilance ban on Kapur, a mandatory step towards initiation
of the court of inquiry. In fact, Kapur was allowed to function
in active service despite the CBI case against him and his
case was forwarded to the Ministry of Defence for promotion
to the next rank. There was another case, discussed in the
hushed tones in the corridors of the South Block, of a Principal
Staff Officer of the present Chief escaping prosecution by the
CBI as the plea for seeking permission for the same came up
before the government on November 26, 2008, the day
Pak-trained terrorist went loose in Mumbai. With the nation
under attack, it is said, the Government thought it prudent to
withhold permission lest it further demoralize the nation and
forces. The story doesn’t end there. General Kapoor’s tenure is
also replete with the extra-ordinary case of a General’s
promotion being mired into controversy on the eve of his
taking charge of the Eastern Army at Fort William, Kolkata.
It relates to the controversy about the correct age of Lt. General
VK Singh, who is tipped to succeed the current Army Chief
General Deepak Kapoor.If the date of birth was found to have
been recorded incorrectly, a dark horse would have emerged
to succeed Kapoor. This dark horse would have been nobody
other than Lt Gen PC Bharadwaj, who succeeded Panag as the
head of the Udhampur-based Northern Command.Corruption
in the Army had remained limited to service arms like the
Ordnance and Supplies. Later it spread tentacles at the level
of the colonels and brigadiers. It was believed that a tough
promotion policy made it impossible for officers with tainted
background to make it to the General rank. Today we are
facing the spectacle of not one but four General rank officers
facing charges of corruption in the single Sukna case.
Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
Mob: 98554-09128 Telefax: 0175-5000896