Army chief to take action against Generals in land scam:Antony

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) Four senior army officers
involved in a land scam in Darjeeling, located in eastern
Indian state of West Bengal will face "some disciplinary and
administrative action" that will be taken by the Army chief,
Indian Defence Minister A K Antony said on Wednesday.
The Army had Tuesday initiated disciplinary action
against Lt Gen P K Rath that may lead to a court martial and
started administrative action that could result in dismissal
of Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, 11 Corps
Commander Ramesh Halgali and Maj Gen P Sen for their role in
the sale of a 70-acre civilian land adjacent to Sukna military
station near Darjeeling.
Antony said the Defence Ministry had received a report
from Indian Army Chief Deepak Kapoor in this regard Tuesday
night and, therefore, it was "too early" for him to comment on
the action to be taken against the Generals.
"The Defence Ministry received a report from the Army
chief that he is going to launch some disciplinary and
administrative proceedings against some of his colleagues, who
are involved in this inquiry. At this stage, it is too early
on my part to comment on this," he said on the sidelines of a
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) defence seminar here.
Refusing to be further drawn into the issue, Antony
said he was yet to examine the report and as the information
provided by the Army chief was for the Defence Ministry only,
it would not be possible for him to make any comment.
"This is an information only for the Defence Ministry.
I told you, I got it yesterday night only.The recommendation
is for the Ministry's information only. I still have to
examine it," he said.

The Army Chief had on Monday directed Adjutant General
Mukesh Sabharwal to issue 30-day show cause notices to Lt Gens
Prakash, Rath and Halgali, and Major General P Sen after a
probe had allegedly held them culpable in the land scam.
Lt Gen Prakash is one of the top eight aides of the Army
Chief at the headquarters in Delhi.
Disciplinary action was initiated against Lt Gen Rath,
who had allegedly played a major role in the issuance of a No
Objection Certificate to a private realtor for buying a
70-acre plot adjacent to the Sukna military station near
Darjeeling.
Army's Eastern Command chief Lt Gen V K Singh would
proceed against Lt Gen Rath, who had reportedly also signed a
memorandum of understanding with the private realtor for
allotment of seats to Army personnel's wards in the school
that was to come up on the land.
Rath, whose appointment as Deputy Army Chief was scrapped
last year after a probe was ordered into the land scam, is
currently attached to the Eastern Command headquarters in
Kolkata.
In the case of Lt Gen Prakash, who is set to retire on
January 31, Lt Gen Halgali and Maj Gen P Sen, the
administrative action could lead to punishment from a minor
censure or recording of displeasure in their service records
to loss of pension benefits or dismissal from service.
The land scam came to light after it became known that
the private realtor, Dalip Aggarwal, who is said to be close
to Lt Gen Prakash, "falsely" represented to the Army that his
trust would open an affiliate of the Ajmer-based Mayo College.
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