'Unbecoming Conduct'

In the Military, we have usage of the term ‘unbecoming conduct’ for an officer only, which includes all such acts of commission as are improper - by the exacting standards of gentlemanly behavior. Stating a falsehood, speaking a lie, withholding and misrepresenting facts and twisting the truth are all considered to be acts of unbecoming conduct, an anathema for any officer, to be guilty of having committed. Punishment, as ordained in the provisions of the Army Act and its Regulations, is to be meted out to all such officers as have transgressed in the matter. From what has recently emerged  with regard to the involvement and alleged culpability of ex Chiefs, Vice Chief, Army Commander,  Lt generals, Maj generals and Brigadiers, in the scandalous expose on Adarsh Housing Society by the tool of RTI and the media, brackets all these officers in the category of having displayed ‘unbecoming conduct’, because they all lied about their annual incomes to become eligible for a membership in the Society. The irony of the matter in the entire case of involvement of all the above category of officers, to wrongly profit from what was and is morally incorrect, is presumably their having sat on judgement and taken punitive action on many a case of  ‘unbecoming conduct’ by an officer,  during their service career, in the course of their duty. Therefore, each and everyone of these officers fully understood the import of lying and withholding information about their annual gross salary, when applying for membership in the now mired Society. Vij and Deepak Kapoor who are trying to deflect the core issue of having displayed ‘unbecoming conduct’, by pleading their ignorance about the purpose for which the Housing Society was formed, are only compounding their bundle of lies. Non will buy your story and get convinced of the subterfuge, being used in the entire matter of  this shameful impropriety.

Should the Army be serious about its efforts to investigate the systemic failure which causes scams and other acts of abashing improbity, involving its institutional authorities, then it needs to examine the matter in a more comprehensive and single pointed manner. Corruption will continue to flourish and prosper, till such time the military institutions of  Commanding Officer, Commandant, Commanders and Equal Status use their office, authority and discretionary powers for personal benefit and use their subordinates to orchestrate and manufacture the heist. In a hierarchical organization, like the chain of command, which is top down, corruption too follows a similar pattern. The sparkle and dazzle of material wealth has so blinded those who have not learnt to withstand its capricious nature, that military values are jettisoned without compunction. The Army abounds in a burgeoning environment of situational ethics, which is nurtured by a lack of mental integrity. When the likelihood of being discovered and punished exists, we are righteous, upright and honest. But, when it is unlikely our greed takes the better of us and we lie, cheat, steal, misappropriate and plunder. A, pathological examination of the series of scams involving the Army’s Top Brass in the past decade, which have punctured its reputation and pride will clinically establish the veracity of this postulate.

Unlike the suggestion espoused by the Raksha Mantri, to not make drastic changes in the Army’s policies concerning the management and growth of its officer cadre, my take on the same is to the contrary. Cosmetic changes will not suffice and instead an overhaul/transplant may be more appropriate to combat the market forces which have engulfed the national environment and insidiously affected the Armed Forces. When the license permit raj had outlived its utility, liberalization of our economic policies brought about our economic resurgence. Similarly, when the System has been infected and become chronically sick, it requires a major surgery to revive it. Nothing short of or less will suffice. The creation of the Army Tribunals in the Regional Commands, to hear and adjudicate on representations brought to its notice and jurisdiction by aggrieved personnel, is a case in point.

General Vijay Kumar Singh, Chief of Army Staff needs to examine the subject issue with a tooth comb and in a holistic manner, should he want something positive and meaningful to emerge from his endeavors to clean up the System .

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal

Dehra Dun-248001

Mob No- 07895131861