SC plea on Army Muslim count

The controversy over headcount of Muslims in the defence forces reached the Supreme Court today with a former deputy chief of army staff seeking halt to the move on the ground that it would sow seeds of communalism in the secular institution.

Terming it an "ill-advised" move which "would cause colossal damage to the integrity, camaraderie, morale and professionalism of the forces in the long run", Lt Gen R S Kadyan (retd) urged the court to direct the government not to make public the data collected so far.

The petition was heard by a Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal which asked Kadyan's counsel to file it in the registry after rectifying the defects.

Kadyan, who served the Army for 44 years, said the "divisive" move could cause long-term damage to the defence forces.

Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee, appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enquire the backwardness of the Muslims had sought to know the number of Muslims in the defence forces.

Maintaining that secularism was one of the strongest pillars of the Indian defence forces, Kadyan said their recruitment, deployment in war and counter-insurgency as also promotions and awards were based on merit and competence.

Kadyan said the headcount of Muslims would lead to ill-will or resentment towards them as other members of the defence forces could misconstrue its purpose as granting reservation and special privileges to the members of a particular community.

He also pointed out that no reservation was being made in the Army, not even for the STs and SCs as was the case in all other puublic emeployment in India.