It Is A Black Day For The Indian Army

The startling expose on the slowly but surely unfurling ADARSH CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETY, COLABA has lifted the lid on the active and tacit involvement of Four, Three, Two and One star General rank officers in misleading, cheating and  profiting  by exploiting the credulity and sentiments of people, which is associated with the noble and solemn cause of  honoring our Martyrs. It is a BLACK DAY for the Indian Army, which has been shamed by the string of Area Commanders, commencing from Maj Gens Yadav( an Engineer Officer), T K Kaul (Kumaon Regiment), Tejinder Singh (now a Lt Gen, from the Brigade of Guards) and Hooda(also from the Brigade of Guards). Even while the Court of Inquiry which has been ordered by the Army, to investigate into the alleged scam and establish the involvement of all these officers is yet to finalize its findings and make recommendations to initiate disciplinary/administrative action against the defaulters, my sentence is out. THEY ARE ALL GUILTY. Only the extent of their guilt may vary according to the degree of their involvement and design, which the Inquiry will definitely establish.

Having served with all the above officers except one, I am convinced of their involvement in appropriating for themselves a residential apartment in the now contemptible HOUSING SOCIETY. T K Kaul has indeed outdone everyone else, by establishing himself and emerging as the master mind of the entire misdeed. The officer was posted in Mumbai as the Sub Area Commander and subsequently as the Area Commander, giving continuity to his noxious designs by ingratiating himself to the politicians and bureaucrats, with whose collaboration the improbity was planned and executed.

To add insult to injury, two ex Chief of Army Staff and one ex Naval Chief also chipped in to profit from the scam and used their status and connections to enroll as members of this now infamous Housing Society and purchase an apartment each, in the same. Gen Nirmal Chand Vij and Deepak Kapoor are remembered in the Army, more for their ability to climb up even when it exposed their backside, while without being partisan to Admiral Madhavendra and the reputation he commanded while in service, he may have genuinely got it wrong. Kapoor’s name and implication in the scam is more likely to stick out as a sore thumb because he was in office and must have used his office and authority to acquire the impugned property. I smell further trouble for Kapoor now, because his can of worms of financial impropriety which was reported in the findings of  the CAG when he was commanding  the Army’s Northern Command, but kept inert till now may as well burst open. Lt Gen H C S Panag (retd) who followed Kapoor there, had met the Raksha Mantri in connection with an apparent wrong being done to him by the former when he was removed from command,lest he spill the beans on the incumbent Chief ie Kapoor.

General V K Singh, the present Chief of Army Staff who stood his ground to prosecute and proceed against the clutch of General Officers, involved in the recent Sukhna Land Scam has committed himself to cleanse the Augean Stables and redeem the ARMY’S Reputation and Pride. Junior, middle and senior rung officers as also soldiers, are all patiently waiting and watching for the outcome of the Inquiry and the action which will be taken against the defaulters, including the two ex chiefs. It will demand great strength of character and moral courage from General Singh to go the whole distance in substantially prosecuting the guilty and sending a much awaited message to everyone, that “No Matter How High You Are, The Law Is Above You.”

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal

Dehra Dun -248001