Court to rule on summoning of army chief May 5

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) A Delhi court Thursday will deliver on May 5 its order on a plea by Lt. Gen. (retd) Tejinder Singh seeking summoning of army chief Gen. V.K. Singh and initiation of defamation proceedings against him for allegedly accusing him of bribery.

After seeking some clarification from Tejinder Singh, Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar fixed May 5 for the order. Tejinder Singh in his petition requested the court to summon and initiate proceedings against the army chief and others for making the libellous statement in media.

The court asked Tejinder Singh about the independent role of the accused in his complaint.

His counsel Anil Aggarwal said that they had issued legal notice to all the accused and they had not denied making the libellous statement against the retired army officer.

He added that a press release could not be issued by one person.

Tejinder Singh March 29 told the court that a press release issued by the army headquarters here March 5, levelled serious allegations against him. He told the court that the media could not be addressed directly by army officials.

Aggarwal said that the press release was for the purpose of defaming the petitioner.

The army could have gone to police for investigation into the alleged bribery instead of issuing the press release, he said.

While concluding his pre-summoning evidence March 29, Tejinder Singh said that the allegation made by the army chief was 'absolutely false, ill-founded and concocted'.

Alleging that the officers misused their official position, power and authority to level false charges against him, the retired army officer in his complaint has also named army vice chief Lt. Gen. S.K. Singh, Director General, Military Intelligence Lt. Gen. B.S. Thakur, Additional Director General of Public Information Major Gen. S.L. Narsimhan and Directorate General of Public Information staff officer Lt. Col. Hitten Sawhney.