Lt General Rath's court martial postponed for two weeks

The Army has postponed court martial proceedings against Lieutenant General PK Rath for two weeks in the Sukna land scam on his request.

The proceedings were scheduled to begin here at the military station on August 30 but after the officer requested for postponement, the presiding officer Lt Gen I J Singh ordered the General Court Martial (GCM) to assemble on September 14, Army sources said.

The GCM has three lieutenant general-rank officers in it.

Rath along with three other generals was indicted by an Army probe for issuing no objection certificates to private realtors for building educational institutions on a 70-acre plot of land adjacent to the Sukna military station in West Bengal.

After the Court of Inquiry submitted its report, disciplinary action was recommended against Rath and former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash and administrative action was initiated against Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali and Maj Gen PK Sen.

Halgali was recently promoted as director general, Military Training, and posted to Army Headquarters here after serving as 11 Corps Commander in Jalandhar.

Summary of Evidence (SOE) against Prakash in the case is still continuing at Army's Eastern Command Headquarters in Kolkata.