Army chief Deepak Kapoor will take "some disciplinary and administrative action"against the four Generals involved in a land scam in Darjeeling, Defence Minister A K Antony said today.
The Ministry had received a report from the Army Chief in this regard only last night and, therefore, it was "too early" for him to comment on the action to be taken against the Generals, he told reporters on the sidelines of a CII defence seminar.
"The Defence Ministry received a report from the Army chief that he is going to launch some disciplinary and administrative proceedings against some of his colleagues, who are involved in this inquiry.
At this stage, it is too early on my part to comment on this," he said here. Refusing to be further drawn into the issue, Antony said he was yet to examine the report and as the information provided by the Army Chief was for the Defence Ministry only, it would not be possible for him to make any remarks.
"This is an information only for the Defence Ministry. I told you, I got it yesterday night only.
The recommendation is for the Ministry's information only. I still have to examine it," he said.
The Army chief has initiated disciplinary proceedings against former 33 Division Commander Lt Gen P K Rath. He has also issued show cause notices to Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, 11 Corps Commander Ramesh Halgali and Major General P Sen to take administrative action.The Army Chief had on Monday directed Adjutant General Mukesh Sabharwal to issue 30-day show cause notices to Lt Gen Prakash, Lt Gen Rath, Lt Gen Halgali and Major General P Sen after a probe had allegedly held them culpable in the land scam.
Disciplinary action was initiated against Lt Gen Rath, who had allegedly played a major role in the issuance of a No Objection Certificate to a private realtor for buying a 70-acre plot adjacent to the Sukna military station near Darjeeling.
Army's Eastern Command chief Lt Gen V K Singh would proceed against Lt Gen Rath, who had reportedly also signed a memorandum of understanding with the private realtor for allotment of seats to Army personnel's wards in the school that was to come up on the land.
Rath, whose appointment as Deputy Army Chief was scrapped last year after a probe was ordered into the land scam, is currently attached to the Eastern Command headquarters in Kolkata.
In the case of Lt Gen Prakash, who is set to retire on January 31 and Lt Gen Halgali and Maj Gen P Sen, the administrative action could lead to punishment from a minor censure or recording of displeasure in their service records to loss of pension benefits or dismissal from service.
The land scam came to light after it became known that the private realtor, Dalip Aggarwal, who is said to be close to Lt Gen Prakash, "falsely" represented to the Army that his trust would open an affiliate of the Ajmer-based Mayo College.