Brigadier Surinder Singh, who has been removed from military service, is thefirst senior army officer to be 'punished' in the wake of the three-month long Kargilconflict.
The brigadier, who had less than six months of service left, was served aterse sack notice at his posting in Ranchi yesterday afternoon, according toarmy sources here.
Though the former army chief General V.P Malik in his last act as chief ofarmy staff had orderded singh to be cashiered, the new chief General S. Padmanabhan,who granted a hearing to brigadier was more benevolent allowing the former Kargilcommander to leave office with full pensionary benefits.
Brig Surinder Singh, army sources said, was sacked under army Act 19, withthe top brass taking strong exception to his 'leaking out' confidentialcorrespondence between him and his divisional commander Maj Gen V.S. Budhwar andnot detecting Pakistani intrusion early enough.
Singh's sacking comes exactly two years after his removal from active duty inJune 1999. However, sources said no action has thus far been initiated against GeneralBudhwar, who is currently the chief of staff of the southern army command.
Army, which had instituted a court of inquiry into his conduct as brigadecommander in august 1999, had served him with a show cause notice, in reply towhich Brig Singh had put the blame on his divisional commander saying he hadwarned the army of high probability of an intrusion in the area.
The court of inquiry had not accepted his assertions and had concurred with Subramanyamcommittee report which said Singh's fears on intrusions were not backed bypreventive steps on the ground.
Army sources said Brigadier Surinder Singh would be able to retain his rankas army has not invoked the presidential displeasure clause against him as wasdone in the case of former naval chief admiral Vishnu Bhagwat.
Sources close to Singh said Singh was contemplating challenging his dismissalin the high court in Punjab after its current summer recess.
