NEW DELHI: The court martial against Lt-General P K Rath, one of the four generals indicted in the Sukna land scam, has found him guilty on three counts in the infamous case which even cast a dark shadow on then Army chief General Deepak Kapoor.
The court martial in Shillong, headed by Lt-Gen I J Singh and consisting of six other Lt-Gens, will pronounce the sentence against Lt-Gen Rath on Saturday or Sunday, which will then have to be ``confirmed`` by Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command as well as Army HQ in New Delhi.
Depending on the gravity of the charges, a court martial can impose sentences ranging from loss of seniority to even imprisonment and being ``cashiered`` from service, which entails loss of rank, decorations and all retirement benefits.
This is the first time a serving three-star general has been court-martialled in the history of Indian armed forces. While a few other Lt-Gen rank officers have been indicted in ration and other scams, none of the courts martial could actually commence before they retired.
Lt-Gen Rath, incidentally, was all set to take over as the new Army deputy chief (information systems and training) in November 2009 after commanding the crucial 33 Corps based in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, under which the Sukna military station comes, when the case exploded in Army`s face. Since then, the Adarsh and Kandivali-Malad land scams have also rocked the armed forces.
The seniormost of the four indicted generals, Lt-Gen Avadhesh Prakash, who was Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor`s close aide as military secretary and later retired in January 2010, will be the other officer to undergo a court-martial now.
Lt-Gens Prakash and Rath were charged with conspiring to aid the transfer of the 71-acre Chumta tea estate adjacent to Sukna military station to real estate developer Dilip Agarwal on the pretext of opening an educational institute affiliated to the Ajmer-based Mayo College, in complete disregard of all security and other norms.
With the conspiracy being detected before it could be executed, it was found that Agarwal was Lt-Gen Prakash`s family friend and the military secretary ``influenced`` Lt-Gen Rath to favour the realtor`s ``vested agenda``. Lt-Gen Rath, said the inquiry report, ``fast-tracked all actions`` to favour Agarwal ``by affirmative endorsements``.
The court martial held Lt-Gen Rath guilty for issuing the `No Objection Certificate`, signing of the MoU with Geetanjali Trust for construction of the educational institute and failing to inform the Eastern Command about the proposed agreement.
``We will wait for the final outcome before deciding what to do next. Lt-Gen Rath has been found guilty only of procedural lapses. He has been cleared of the four more serious charges of intent to defraud and others,`` defence counsel S S Pandey told TOI.
The other two generals, Lt-Gen Ramesh Halgali and Major-Gen P C Sen, and four other officers named in the case only faced administrative action for failing to do proper ``staff work`` in the chain of command.
While Maj-Gen Sen retired last year, Lt-Gen Halgali has since been rehabilitated by present Army chief Gen V K Singh and is currently the director-general of military training at Army HQ.
The case, of course, also led to an unseemly rift in the top Army brass. Gen Singh, who was the then Eastern Army commander and took over as the Army chief in April 2010, had locked horns with Gen Kapoor, who was perceived to be dragging his feet in the case.
Defence minister A K Antony, in fact, had to himself step in to overrule Gen Kapoor`s decision to only take ``administrative action`` against Lt-Gen Prakash, rather than the harsher ``disciplinary action`` in the shape of a court martial.
The court martial in Shillong, headed by Lt-Gen I J Singh and consisting of six other Lt-Gens, will pronounce the sentence against Lt-Gen Rath on Saturday or Sunday, which will then have to be ``confirmed`` by Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command as well as Army HQ in New Delhi.
Depending on the gravity of the charges, a court martial can impose sentences ranging from loss of seniority to even imprisonment and being ``cashiered`` from service, which entails loss of rank, decorations and all retirement benefits.
This is the first time a serving three-star general has been court-martialled in the history of Indian armed forces. While a few other Lt-Gen rank officers have been indicted in ration and other scams, none of the courts martial could actually commence before they retired.
Lt-Gen Rath, incidentally, was all set to take over as the new Army deputy chief (information systems and training) in November 2009 after commanding the crucial 33 Corps based in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, under which the Sukna military station comes, when the case exploded in Army`s face. Since then, the Adarsh and Kandivali-Malad land scams have also rocked the armed forces.
The seniormost of the four indicted generals, Lt-Gen Avadhesh Prakash, who was Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor`s close aide as military secretary and later retired in January 2010, will be the other officer to undergo a court-martial now.
Lt-Gens Prakash and Rath were charged with conspiring to aid the transfer of the 71-acre Chumta tea estate adjacent to Sukna military station to real estate developer Dilip Agarwal on the pretext of opening an educational institute affiliated to the Ajmer-based Mayo College, in complete disregard of all security and other norms.
With the conspiracy being detected before it could be executed, it was found that Agarwal was Lt-Gen Prakash`s family friend and the military secretary ``influenced`` Lt-Gen Rath to favour the realtor`s ``vested agenda``. Lt-Gen Rath, said the inquiry report, ``fast-tracked all actions`` to favour Agarwal ``by affirmative endorsements``.
The court martial held Lt-Gen Rath guilty for issuing the `No Objection Certificate`, signing of the MoU with Geetanjali Trust for construction of the educational institute and failing to inform the Eastern Command about the proposed agreement.
``We will wait for the final outcome before deciding what to do next. Lt-Gen Rath has been found guilty only of procedural lapses. He has been cleared of the four more serious charges of intent to defraud and others,`` defence counsel S S Pandey told TOI.
The other two generals, Lt-Gen Ramesh Halgali and Major-Gen P C Sen, and four other officers named in the case only faced administrative action for failing to do proper ``staff work`` in the chain of command.
While Maj-Gen Sen retired last year, Lt-Gen Halgali has since been rehabilitated by present Army chief Gen V K Singh and is currently the director-general of military training at Army HQ.
The case, of course, also led to an unseemly rift in the top Army brass. Gen Singh, who was the then Eastern Army commander and took over as the Army chief in April 2010, had locked horns with Gen Kapoor, who was perceived to be dragging his feet in the case.
Defence minister A K Antony, in fact, had to himself step in to overrule Gen Kapoor`s decision to only take ``administrative action`` against Lt-Gen Prakash, rather than the harsher ``disciplinary action`` in the shape of a court martial.
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