Antony recommends court martial of top army general

NEW DELHI - Defence Minister A.K. Antony Wednesday recommended court martial of Lt. Gen. Awadesh Prakash for his involvement in a land scam in Sukhna cantonment in West Bengal.

Antony’s recommendation has come as Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor had ordered administrative action against Prakash while another officer held guilty in the scam Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath was ordered to be court martialled.

The defence minister has recommended for disciplinary action against Prakash also and this includes court martial, a senior defence official said Wednesday.

The defence minister’s recommendations reached the army chief Wednesday.

Kapoor had submitted his action-taken report in the scam to the defence ministry early this month.

Prakash, the current military secretary, was found guilty by a court of inquiry of using his position to influence granting of a no-objection certificate by Rath — who was commander of 33 Corps in Sukhna — to a private realtor.

The Eastern Army Commander, Lt.Gen. V.K. Singh, who convened the inquiry, had recommended court martial of the two officers.

Meanwhile, Prakash was asked to proceed on leave. Prakash is to retire Jan 31.

An army court had indicted the two officers for their role in issuing of a no-objection certificate to a private establishment that falsely claimed to be setting up an affiliate of the well-known Ajmer-based Mayo College on a plot adjacent to the Sukhna military station in Darjeeling district.

Prakash is one of the eight Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) at the Army Headquarters and acts as adviser to the army chief.

As military secretary, Prakash was responsible for the promotions and postings of army officers.

Rath was the deputy army chief-designate but his appointment was cancelled after the scam was exposed.