Examine lapse in recognising army man's sacrifice in 1965

Fifty two years after an armyman laid down his life in the Indo-Pak war, a parliamentary panel has asked the defence ministry to find out whether there was any lapse in recognising his sacrifice as he was deprived of any gallantry award.
The direction by the Lok Sabha's Petitions Committee came after the son of late Major Mohan Singh approached it through an MP saying his father died while fighting the enemy but his sacrifice was only recognised in November 2014, denying him any military honour.
Examining the case, the parliamentary panel, in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha today, expressed displeasure over the selection process to confer gallantry awards and directed the defence ministry to immediately streamline it, noting that the process must be transparent.

As per official records, Major Singh was from 6 Rajput battalion which was deployed in Chhamb-Jaurian sector of Jammu and Kashmir during the 1965 war. Singh had died in an ambush by the enemy while he and some other troops were laying mines in the area on September 14, 1965.
Singh's son Brigadier (retd) N B Singh told the panel that the Army headquarters in 2014 had suddenly acknowledged his father's sacrifice and "conceded" his death as a 'battle field casualty'. N B Singh demanded conferment of Param Vir Chakra to his father.
On its part, the defence ministry explained that the army headquarters issued the letter recognising Singh's death during the war so that his son could apply for a petrol pump dealership, adding the army man's sacrifice was mentioned in the pension order issued in 1966.

However, the Committee said it was not convinced with the contention of the defence ministry that there was no procedural lapse or irregularity in notifying sacrifice of Major Singh as a 'battle casualty attributable to military service'.

"The ministry of defence had also failed to produce any documentary evidence before the committee which could prove that prior to November , 2014, any serious effort was made by the Army headquarters to notify the martyrdom of Late Major Mohan Singh as a Battle Casualty attributable to military service," it said.
The panel said it appeared that the ministry erroneously made an attempt to club the two separate issues -- mentioning of his sacrifice in the pension order with the 2014 notification.

"These events prove that that the entire selection process of conferment of gallantry awards to the military personnel was not transparent and the selection committee, at that time, acted in an arbitrary manner," the panel observed.
The
parliamentary panel asked the defence ministry to undertake a fresh exercise on the basis of available records to determine whether there was any lapse in recognising the "martyrdom" of Singh as 'battle casualty' attributable to military service with effect from 1965.
The committee said when it asked the defence ministry on the possibility of conferring Late Singh with Param Vir Chakra or any other gallantry award posthumously, it ruled out relaxation in laid down rules, saying honours and awards are conferred within a specific period of two calender years from the date of the act.

"Since, the act mentioned in the petition took place 50 years ago, the case cannot be considered at this stage," according to submission before the committee by the ministry.
The committee recommended to the defence ministry to take immediate remedial measures to streamline the selection process for gallantry awards to obviate recurrence of such incidents in future.
It observed that the incident showed that the entire selection process of conferment of gallantry awards was not transparent.
"There is no doubt that the selection process for conferment of gallantry awards needs to be made more rigorous and meticulous in order to choose only those defence personnel who had exhibited exceptional valour during war.