Army brass pressured juniors to change line

Military secretary Lt General Avadesh Prakash has been let off lightly in the Sukhna land scam, but details of the court of inquiry (COI) into the controversy accessed by DNA explain why some senior officers may be upset by this mild ‘punishment’. Eyebrows have been raised over the army chief’s unusual move to defend an indicted military officer.

The Sukhna land scam essentially involved senior generals and officers issuing a no-objection certificate for a private educational institution in a high-security area. The army had initially opposed this move, but many officers subsequently changed their stands, apparently under pressure from some generals.

The COI’s is a strong indictment of the rot that is setting into military ranks. The details reveal that Lt Gen Prakash, a senior aide of army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, and Lt Gen PK Rath, head of 33 Corps, had pressured several junior officers into withdrawing their objections to the proposal permitting a sprawling education complex to come up next to the 33 Corps headquarters in the north-east. Both Prakash and Rath had repeatedly also made misleading statements to the COI.  

The COI had, subsequently, indicted Lt Generals Prakash, Rath and R Halgali, Major General PC Sen and three other officers in the Sukhna land scam.

However, army chief General Deepak Kapoor on Monday overruled the eastern army commander Lt Gen VK Singh’s recommendation for summary dismissal of Prakash, and issued a show-cause notice to him instead. The military secretary will thus face no visible punishment before his retirement on January 31.

Meanwhile, court martial proceedings are to begin against Rath.
A senior army officer at the Delhi military headquarters told DNA:

“The attempt to absolve Prakash, saying no army land was sold off, is worrisome. He is accused of misusing his authority, pressuring his juniors to change their stands, and forcing the 33 corps to reverse its ongoing process of taking over the land from the West Bengal government and openly lobbying for the private contractor. What more do they want to establish his culpability?” he asks?

Dilip Agarwal, a family friend of Prakash, had approached the 33 corps saying he would build a girls’ school - in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it was changed to educational institution. Based on that proposal, Rath changed the original stand of the army, which was to take over the land from West Bengal government.

“There was a general feeling in the corps headquarters that Lt General Avadesh Prakash, military secretary, was interested in the education institution,” Brig PC Sen, one of the indicted officers, told the inquiry. Sen also spoke about the pressure from both Rath and Halgali, the chief of staff of 33 corps.

The COI establishes how Prakash used his position to pressure and persuade Rath and others to help private builders. It also mentions how Prakash and his staff officer, Col Rajiv Ghai, visited the Chumta Tea Estate, where the project was planned, and accompanied Agarwal on a tour. The two were also in touch over the phone with senior army officers and Agarwal until the MoU was signed.

The report says that Brig Sunil Chadha, the station commander, “in his original note drew attention to the location of the new corps headquarters building and raised concerns about its security due to its proximity to Chumta Tea Estate.

However, Brig PC Sen, Brig (Administration), persuaded him to change the noting sheet citing reasons that general officer commanding had made up his mind”.

The 33 corps leadership also removed and substituted the objections raised by Col Javed Iqbal, the deputy judge advocate general.

“In his original note, (he) recommended seeking concurrence of integrated headquarters of ministry of defence (army) and headquarters, Eastern Command, before entering” into the MoU.

Startlingly, “the same was ordered to be deleted and substituted by a new note validating the draft” MoU, says the report.

After Rath changed the 33 corps’ stand on not allowing a private project in the land due to security reasons, “there was no examination of the case on file nor any formal direction to the staff to analyse the impact of the changed stance on security,” the report says.

The COI says in February, 2008, the 33 corps moved the West Bengal government for taking over the disputed area, and the government too was in favour of it due to security concerns.

In October, 2008, Rath too wrote reiterating the army’s stand. A few months later, Rath changed his stand, letting Prakash and others get their way.