Chief of Army Staff Dalbir Singh on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that Union minister VK Singh (pictured above) tried to prevent him from being appointed to the top Army post. According to Dalbir Singh, this was an arbitrary move on the part of the current Minister of State for External Affairs, and that he tried to sabotage him “with mysterious design” and “malafide intent”, The Indian Express reported.
An affidavit to the effect was submitted to the bench, which is hearing a petition by Lt General (retired) Ravi Dastane. Dastane has argued that Dalbir Singh was promoted to Army chief ahead of him owing to favouritism.
According to Dastane’s petition, Dalbir Singh had been placed under a discipline and vigilance ban by then Army chief VK Singh in 2012. However, he was still promoted to the Army commander’s post in 2014 by the next Army chief Bikram Singh, who reversed VK Singh’s the punishment. Dalbir Singh in his affidavit alleged that it was this ban that was “arbitrary” and “malafide”. He added that since he had been “victimized for extraneous reasons”, Dastane could not use the “illegal ban” to question his appointment to the top job.
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