The Centre today told the Delhi High Court that the issuance of an allegedly defamatory press release against Lt. Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh by then Army Chief V K Singh and four other serving army officers does not attract any "disciplinary action."
"Having examined the petitioner's (Tejinder Singh) representation and the reply of the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the disciplinary authority had arrived at the view that the direction issued by the former Chief of Army Staff for issuance of the impugned media clarification on March 5, 2012 does not attract disciplinary action and as such the representation of the petitioner has been disposed off," an affidavit filed by Defence Secretary R K Mathur said.
According to the Centre's compliance affidavit, the former COAS had said he had directed the officers to issue the press release.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Rajeeve Mehra told Justice S K Misra that the compliance affidavit has been filed by Mathur on behalf of Defence Minister A K Antony and former Defence Secretary S K Sharma who was recently appointed as CAG.
Earlier, the court had issued a show-cause notice on a contempt plea of Tejinder Singh that despite the judicial order, the Center and other authorities failed to act against ex-Army Chief and others who had allegedly issued defamatory press release against him.
