Opinion was divided among experts and veterans over Army Chief General VK Singh's decision to approach the Supreme Court against the government on his age issue.
"An Army Chief going to court on personal matters is not good for the force or the nation as a whole," Gen Singh's predecessor Gen Deepak Kapoor said but declined to comment specifically on the age issue.
Asked about the age row, he said this had come up during the tenure of Gen JJ Singh as Army Chief.
Former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, who had also advised Gen Singh on the age issue earlier as a senior in the Chiefs of Staffs Committee, said, "I think it is a personal issue and he should do whatever he thinks is right."
"As a citizen of the country, he has the right to go to the court," he said.
However, former foreign service officer KC Singh termed it as a "dangerous precedent" and cited earlier incidents where senior government servants had put in their papers instead of approaching courts on official matters.
Terming the development "extremely unfortunate", another ex-IAF chief ACM SK Kaul said, "The matter should have been settled between the government and Army chief with both sides agreeing to some meeting point."
Without taking sides on the issue, he said, "I feel there are so many pending issues to jostle with."
Lieutenant General (retd) Satish Nambiar said the Army Chief has every right to approach the court as citizen of this country.
"Date of Birth can not be subject of discussion," he said.
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