FULL AND CORRECTED TRANSCRIPT OF DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
WITH LT. GEN. AVADESH PRAKASH - EMBARGOED TILL
NOON SUNDAY 28TH
(Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, Former VCOAS)
Dear Gen. Oberoi,
I am writing to tell you that on wednesday the 24th our CNN-IBN
programme Devil’s Advocate did an exclusive and extremely
newsworthy interview with the former military secretary, Lt. Gen.
Avadesh Prakash, who, as you know, is at the very centre of the so
called Sukna land scam. This is the first and only interview given
by Lt. Gen. Prakash after maintaining silence for over 3 months.
In addition, he has assured us that he will not give any other
interview or in any other way speak to the press until after this
interview is broadcast by CNN-IBN on sunday night at 8.30 p.m.
The repeats are on monday.
I now enclose the transcript of the interview which is e
mbargoed till noon tomorrow, sunday 28th.
Let me give you the most important points of the interview:-
1. Gen. Prakash says that Court of Inquiry conducted
against him was faulty on many counts. It breached Army
Regulation 518 which determines the membership. It breached
Army Rule 180 which determines how witnesses should be
questioned.
2. The Armed Forces Tribunal has given him partial relief
and although he accepts it, it would have been better for the
Inquiry to be entirely scrapped and re-held with a new presiding
officer and new members. These points are fully explained in
the transcript of the interview. I am only giving you the gist at
this point.
3. Gen. Prakash outlines several reasons why he believes the
Army Chief has not treated him fairly. They are:-
The Chief didn’t apply his mind to Prakash’s reply to the show
cause notice. The Chief barely gave the matter three working
days whereas, earlier, he had spent almost three weeks in
determining how to respond to the Court of Inquiry’s findings.
The Chief was not speaking the full truth when, two weeks earlier
on Devil’s Advocate, he told us that he had ordered disciplinary
action on the basis of Gen. Prakash’s reply to the show cause
notice. Gen. Prakash points out that the letter he received from
the army ordering disciplinary action (dated 29 Jan No.
C/06280/EC/411/AG/DV-2) begins by saying that the show cause
notice is cancelled. Therefore if the notice is cancelled the
reply to the notice cannot be considered. Furthermore at no point
does the letter refer to Prakash’s reply in any shape or form.
In ordering disciplinary action after administrative action had
commenced, Prakash says the Chief is in violation of the well
established and long practiced military policy of 1993. In the
interview Prakash quotes from a letter sent by the Additional
Directorate General (Discipline and Vigilance) of the Adjutant
General’s branch dated 11th May, 1993 no. 32908/AG/DV-1, to
the Head Quarters of all the commands of the army, which
states : “It is clarified that once the competent authority after
having applied his mind to the full facts of the case decides to
initiate administrative action and such action has commenced
… at this stage to revert to disciplinary action is not only
unjustified but also legally unsustainable.”
The communication that disciplinary action would be taken
against him was received by Gen. Prakash at 11 a.m. on the
29th of January, his last working day before retirement. That
also happens to be the date of Beating Retreat. South Block
offices shut down at 1 p.m. thus giving Prakash only two hours
to protest that the disciplinary action was a violation of the
1993 policy. The 30th and 31st were Saturday and Sunday and
therefore holidays. By the 1st Prakash had retired.
4. Prakash explains why the army has no power or
authority to object to the school that was proposed to be built
on the 70 acres of Chumta tea estate which are outside the
military station at Sukna. He explains the critical difference
between a military station and cantonment.
5. Prakash also explains how the Corps Commander at
Sukna first objected to what the developers proposed and
then changed his mind. The reason is that originally they
proposed a shopping mall and resort which the Corps
Commander objected to. When the developers switched to a
school the Corps Commander accepted. Also Prakash points
out that if schools can exist within cantonments in Delhi
then they can easily exist outside a military station at Sukna.
6. Prakash one by one answers the indictments he is
charged with. The details are in the transcript of the
interview I am sending you. But they amount to issues of
impropriety. He does not deny them and, additionally,
accepts that in hindsight they look wrong. At the time,
however, he asserts they were innocent. This is clearly news.
Never before has he accepted that in hindsight they look wrong.
7. Prakash refutes the theory that underlying the Sukna
inquiry is a personality clash or rivalry between him and the
Eastern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. V. K. Singh, who will take
over as Army Chief on 31st March. In fact he has words of
praise for Lt. Gen. V. K. Singh. This too is newsworthy.
8. Finally Gen. Prakash explains why he has not spoken
to the press earlier and why he has chosen to do so now. He
says after the press has called him tainted he feels a need to
defend himself and clear his name.
As I said above, the transcript is enclosed. You will find a
lot of interesting and newsworthy details in the interview
which are not known so far.
With my warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
Abhash Kumar.
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