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'Yeh General banega'

Major General Ashok K Mehta traces the background leading to Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat's dismissal last month.

Experienced officers say that ministerial scrutiny of service promotion boards is a must. Major General D K (Monty) Palit would have been eased out as brigadier because fellow-Bengali and arch foe, CoAS General J N Chowdhury had recommended him only for conditional promotion. Governmental intervention ensured he was promoted to command a division. There are others like Palit who have been rescued and resurrected by government.

In 1975, when against the recommendation of the army, the government had decided to post as eastern army commander, then CoAS, General T N (Tappy) Raina and his successor O P Malhotra met then defence minister Jagjivan Ram. They requested that Menezes be posted as vice chief of army staff and not army commander. Jagjivan Ram agreed and a spat, like the present one in the navy, was averted. MoD sources say its file bearing the ACC's orders was sent back to Bhagwat for reconsideration but he returned the file noting the case did not warrant any reconsideration.

The government of the day has, in the past, exercised its constitutional prerogative in the selection of chiefs of staff of the services. India's first officer Victoria Cross winner and soldier's general P S Bhagat, the front-runner as CoAS, lost out ostensibly because of an adverse comment ('he lacks financial prudence'). The real reason was his tough no-nonsense ways which the bureaucracy dreaded. Similarly, Lt-General S K Sinha was eased out because the government's choice and Sinha's junior; General A S Vaidya had "more operational experience." Sinha had served in every rank in army headquarters, from captain to Lt-General and knew the ropes in the MoD which even the latter didn't. They feared him like the plague.

In an unprecedented case, the government retired an air force chief in the forenoon and his successor who was to retire on the same day was appointed in the afternoon. Two years from now, when VCoAS Lt-General Chandrashekhar retires on the same day as CoAS Malik, will Chandrashekhar cite this IAF precedent?

These battles in the proxy war for promotions can be carried even further when political interference crosses the limits of decency. In a re-enactment of the evil genius of Krishna Menon, former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav wrestled his way securing promotions, extensions and waivers for his favourites, the collective cause of the present crises in service headquarters. In his time, it was simply a case of "yeh General banega (He will become a general)".

This is how a major general, twice rejected in a board, was given an extension and promoted while another's case was deferred to accommodate this officer. Yet another major general having hibernated for nearly two years was forced to go to court to secure his promotion.

The new slogan at army headquarters, 'MoD Power: Go get it', was coined after Sachin Tendulkar's ad campaign for a credit card. General Ved Malik had to remind Mulayam Singh Yadav that there was an army regulation forbidding serving officers from contacting politicians and bureaucrats for favours as this would undermine the chain of command and sanctify of promotion boards. Mulayam gave Malik a lecture on democracy.

The aberrations in promotion policy are legion. Rules have been bent and broken by all sides to get their admiral, general or group captain promoted or posted. Not long ago, the President of India ensured his military secretary got his promotion while another's promotion was sabotaged by ordering it on a weekend, two days before his superannuation. The military secretary's branch which orchestrates promotions and deployment of officers can deliver only when internal and external interference is stopped which includes the law of the land.

Because of stay orders from courts the military secretary is forced to resort to promotion/posting orders like "look after the appointment of", "appointed conditional to outcome in court", and in one case "will assist in planning the security of Babri Masjid in Lucknow", while the general officer was actually on the strength of Rashtriya Rifles in Delhi. Such orders undermine the chain of command. Officers joke that a bench of the high court should be attached to the MS branch.

Both the army and the IAF have accepted that the competent authority in approving the recommendations of promotions and appointment boards rests with the government. In fact, only recently, Malik's plea that service chiefs' dissent note on any arbitration by MoD must be placed before the ACC, was accepted. However, Bhagwat's invocation of navy regulation (Section 134) of the Navy Act through which he had sought to make his recommendation binding on the government was a one-off. No previous CNS had sought to impose this binding on the government.

Further, the Lt-General Ved Airy case has been misquoted. Justice S Bhandare did not rule a carte blanche for service chiefs in the selection of their PSOs.

At the time of writing, there are three outstanding cases, one from each service: Kadyan versus Kalkat. Harinder Singh versus Madanjeet Singh and Air Vice-Marshal P K Ghosh versus the defence secretary. The facts of these cases are clouded in fog and different legal interpretations. Both Kalkat and Madanjeet Singh were appointed conditionally, one as army commander and the other 'officiating deputy CNS subject to the court verdict and approval by ACC'. Now both appointments stand rejected.

George Fernandes, described by many as the best defence minister India has had, has observed the proxy war from a ringside seat and promised to resolve the impasse in house. Why he let it get out of hand is a mystery. One of the weakest links in higher management of defence since Independence has been the defence minister. Barring Arun Singh, the other ministers have been singularly incompetent and ignorant. Recalls a former VCoAS: "The longest note ever written by any defence minister was 'Please Speak' by Y B Chavan who used to trace his ancestry to the great warrior, Chhatrapati Shivaji."

Once of the key functions of the defence minister is to keep the three chiefs on one grid and next, to harmonise their relations with the defence secretary. Ajit Kumar himself had not been successful in keeping the lid on his troubled pot. But Fernandes stoutly defended his defence secretary on at least two occasions: at his post-100 days press briefing when he snubbed a reporter for suggesting that the defence secretary needed a stint in Siachen as much as the junior officers in the MoD, and ensuring Ajit Kumar was retained in the MoD when there were calls for his removal. The defence secretary was finally transferred on December 30, the day Admiral V S Bhagwat was sacked.

1998 was annus horribilis for the armed forces. The BJP leaders must re-read the section on national security in their manifesto. They should immediately set up a military reforms commission to end interservice rivalry by replacing the ludicrous revolving-door chairman chiefs of staff committee, by a permanent chairman and integrate service headquarters with the MoD. Services tribunals, on the anvil for ten years, must be established forthwith to prevent the courts from performing command functions. Dr N M Ghatate, member, Law Commission, is already reappraising the Army, Navy and Air Force Acts.

The government must restore the izzat and iqbal of the soldier. India's first and only living Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who gave the country its first military victory in 1,000 years, has been placed in Article 12 of the Warrant of Precedence, below two former civil servants: Brajesh Mishra and Vijay Kapoor. Civil servants have periodically resorted to creeping ascendancy in status over the military by inserting mischievous footnotes to Warrant of Precedence to embarrass the generals.

Unfortunately, many of the military's wounds are self-inflicted, reflecting the laid-back and relaxed style of its higher military leadership. Otherwise, how could it have accepted a deputy secretary with seven years service reporting on a selection grade Lt-Col with 17 years service in an interservice organisation?

Civilians, ignorant about military traditions and ethos, should stop fooling around with the services. The armed forces cannot be run like other government or political services.

How the Services lost the War

Snakes and ladders

Kind courtesy: Sunday magazine

The Rediff Specials

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