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Chief of Army Staff, General V.K. Singh, on Tuesday said the controversy over his date of birth could have been avoided. "No, I look at it something which could have been avoided," General Singh told the media here. The Army Chief lost the date of birth battle in the Supreme Court in February this year, as the apex court said the government decision on the date - May 10, 1950, and not May 10, 1951 - was final, forcing him to withdraw his petition. The apex court had earlier disposed General Singh's petition, saying he could not resile on his commitment of accepting the date of birth as May 10, 1950. The two-judge bench of the apex court said it was not in favour of entertaining General Singh's petition that his date of birth should be treated in official records as May 10, 1951 and gave him the option of withdrawing it. The apex court held that no prejudice had been done to the Army Chief and added that the government decision on his date of birth would stand. General Singh will now retire on May 31 this year as scheduled. The apex court had earlier stated that there was no scope for it to interfere in the matter. The government also withdrew its December 30, 2011 order that had rejected the army chief's statutory complaint for treating his date of birth as May 10, 1951 instead of May 10, 1950. The government's decision followed a Supreme Court order that said the December 30 order was vitiated and against the principle of natural justice, and would be quashed if not done. General Singh had questioned the government's decision to treat his date of birth as May 10, 1950 instead of May 10, 1951, as claimed by him on the basis of his matriculation certificate and other documents, in his writ petition filed before the apex court.

Date of birth controversy could have been avoided, says Army chief