Defence Ministry clears transfer order, ends speculation

The Defence Ministry has put to rest over the controversial inappropriate battle among the top army brass by clearing several appointments waiting for two months in his office.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has on Monday approved the transfer of Northern Command chief Lt-General H S Panag from Jammu and Kashmir to Lucknow-based Central Command, despite his vehement protests.

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Lt. Gen. H.S. Panag would replace Lt. Gen. O.P. Nandrajog, who retires on Feb 29, as the general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of the Central Command.

Earlier Lt- General Panag had complained to Defence Minister A K Antony against the proposal to his transfer. He had allegedly protested that through the transfer incurring upon him, General Deepak Kapoor was trying to spoil important investigations, also one pertaining to tent scam in 2006, he was carrying out.

Panag, who was appointed as the northern army commander after Kapoor, had carrying out probes into several purchases. Many of the deal were cleared by Kapoor.

Lt. Gen. P.C. Bhardwaj, presently GOC 14 Corps, has been promoted as army commander and posted as GOC-in-C Northern Command, the statement added.

Also, by approving Lt-Gen V K Singh's promotion as the next head of Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command from March 1, it has virtually paved the way for him to take over as the next Army chief after Gen Deepak Kapoor’s retirement in March 2010.

The transfer issue had been the bone of contention between the two-army brass-Kapoor and Panag.

Bypassing the Army Chief’s authority, Panag had raised the issue directly with defence minister on January 5.

The minister had given Lt-General a patient hearing, but it was evident that Antony would not like to undermine the authority of his own Army Chief by annulling the proposed transfer.

Following Panag’s protest, the file was resting in defence ministry for few weeks. And the government on Monday approved the transfer order after conducting a secret investigation whether his transfer would bring any halt to the investigation. Once the ministry assured the institutional mechanism was too strong to bring any hindrance to the probe or adversely affect it, the government inked the proposal.

All the Army Commanders will assume their new assignments from 01 March 2008.

Whatever was the reason; the transfer episode certainly undermined the status of some of top brass and pointed towards them the declining standard of official qualities.