Friends - do you think this can ever happen in Pakistan?
NEW DELHI: Acting on the "advice" of defence minister A K Antony, Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor on Friday ordered the court martial of his chief aide Lt-Gen Avadhesh Prakash for his involvement in a land scam in West Bengal's Sukna cantonment, a defence official said on Friday. ( Watch Video )
The army chief's decision has come two days after the defence minister advised a court martial of the military secretary on the issue.
"The Army chief has ordered disciplinary action against Lt Gen Prakash, who will face a court martial in Sukna land scam. The chief has stuck to the advice from Antony in the case," defence ministry sources said here.
Lt-Gen Prakash is involved in the scam along with two other lieutenant generals and a major general. He is due to retire on January 31 and is the seniormost of the four generals indicted in the multi-crore scam.
The Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen V K Singh, the army chief designate, had recommended tough action against Lt Gen Prakash and other accused officials on the basis of a Court of Inquiry which indicted them for issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) for sale of the 71-acre land adjacent to Sukna military station in West Bengal's Darjeeling.
Defence minister Antony had overturned Gen Deepak Kapoor's decision to take only
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A court, with a presiding officer senior to Lt-Gen Prakash, will now be constituted to
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The other two generals indicted by the court of inquiry (CoI) into the Sukna case, Lt-Gen Ramesh Halgali and Maj-Gen P C Sen, will face `administrative action', which can range from merely a censure to dismissal from service.
Conversely, a court martial can even lead to imprisonment and being "cashiered'' from service, which entails loss of rank, decorations and all retirement benefits, depending on the severity of charges.
Lt-Gen Prakash will now have the dubious distinction of being the seniormost three-star general ever to face a court-martial in the 1.13-million strong force.
