In what was a clear victory for the government and a huge setback for Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the decision of the ministry of defence (MoD) to treat the date of birth of Gen. Singh as May 10, 1950, and disposed of Gen. Singh’s petition.

The court’s decision and the setback to the Army Chief has now given rise to speculation that Gen. Singh could put in his papers ahead of his scheduled retirement date of May 31 this year.
A process by the government to look for his successor is near completion and the name of the successor could be announced as soon as next week, sources said.
The MoD expressed happiness at the Supreme Court decision, saying that it “was happy that the issue has been finally resolved and the controversy put to rest”. Gen. Singh’s counsel, Puneet Bali, however claimed that it was a victory for both sides as the matter has been resolved “gracefully and amicably” and that the Army Chief’s honour had been restored.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said, “This is a matter that is before court and I would not like to comment on it.” While there were no indications till Friday evening of any move on the part of the Army Chief to quit, pressure could soon mount in view of the setback. If Gen. Singh retires as per schedule, the front-runner to replace him is Eastern Command GOC-in-C Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh. If he resigns soon, the contenders will include Western Command GOC-in-C Lt. Gen. Shankar Ghosh.
The Supreme Court on Friday passed a brief order stating that for the purpose of the Army service record, Gen. Singh’s DoB will be treated as May 10, 1950, as recorded by the MoD in its memo of July 21, 2011, and the July 22, 2011 order complying with the direction. However, the court made it clear that such a reflection of his DoB will be “limited” to his Army service record and not for any other purpose.
Gen. Singh’s counsel, however, told the court that if the DoB is recorded as May 10, 1951 in all service records, “I (Gen. Singh) will put in my papers within 24 hours. I am ready to record a statement to this effect.”
But the bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and H.L. Gokhale referred to letters written in January 31, 2008 by Gen. Singh and said, “Those letters reflect that you had taken a final call on the issue of your DoB in the best interest of the organisation. Then why this controversy?”
The bench also referred to the fact that Gen. Singh had given a “commitment” to the military secretary in a letter dated January 24, 2008, that he would not press the issue in the “interest of the organisation”. Gen. Singh had then given a commitment to Army HQ that he would accept May 10, 1950 as his DoB.