Army chief orders court martial of chief advisor (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - Heeding the advice of Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Indian Army chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor Friday ordered the court martial of his chief advisor Lt. Gen. Avadesh Prakash for his involvement in a land scam in West Bengal’s Sukna cantonment.

The army chief’s decision Friday comes two days after Antony advised him to take “disciplinary action” against Prakash.

“The army chief has ordered for disciplinary action against Lt. Gen. Prakash and this leads to court martial,” an official said, requesting anonymity.

The defence ministry was informed of the army chief’s decision Friday. Prakash is due to retire on Jan 31.

Prakash, who as military secretary is responsible for the promotions and postings of army officers, will be among the army’s most senior officers to be court martialled on charges of corruption.

Antony’s recommendation Wednesday came after Kapoor directed administrative action against Prakash while another officer held guilty in the scam, Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath, was ordered to be court martialled.

Kapoor had submitted his action taken report in the scam to the defence ministry early this month.

Prakash, the current military secretary, was found guilty by a court of inquiry of using his position to influence the granting of a no-objection certificate by Rath — who was commander of 33 Corps in Sukna — to a private realtor.

The Eastern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. V.K. Singh, who convened the inquiry, had recommended court martial of the two officers.

Prakash was meanwhile asked to proceed on leave.

An army court had indicted the two officers for their role in issuing a no-objection certificate to a private establishment that falsely claimed to be setting up an affiliate of the well-known Ajmer-based Mayo College on a plot adjacent to the Sukna military station in Darjeeling district.

Prakash is one of the eight principal staff officers (PSOs) at the Army Headquarters and acts as adviser to the army chief.

Rath was the deputy army chief-designate but his appointment was cancelled after the scam was exposed.

Prakash is the latest in the list of top commanders who have been found guilty on various charges of corruption, indiscipline and sexual harassment over the past few years.

In early 2007, two lieutenant generals of the Army Service Corps (ASC) - S.K. Dahiya and S.K. Sahni - were indicted in two separate cases involving irregularities in the procurement of frozen meat for troops posted in Ladakh and discrepancies in the procurement of dry rations.

In 2009, two major generals of the Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) - Anand Swaroop and S.P. Sinha - faced separate charges of irregularities in the purchase of stores.

In an unprecedented case of sexual harassment, Maj Gen A.K. Lal, who was commanding a division on India-China border, was found guilty by a military court in 2008 of the charges levelled against him by a captain serving under him. Lal was dismissed from service.