New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has issued notice to four serving Indian Army officers in a defamation case filed by Lieutenat General (retd) Tejinder Singh against a trial court order exempting their personal appearance.
Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh moved the high court challenging the order of the trial court that allowed permanent exemption from personal appearance to the four accused serving officers. Justice P K Bhasin on Friday issued notice to the four officers and sought their reply by February 15, the next date of hearing.
Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh had filed a defamation case against former army chief, General V K Singh, and the four army officers for allegedly making libellous statements against him to the media and accusing him of bribery in an all-terrain truck purchase deal of the army.
He sought the setting aside of the trial court’s order granting permanent exemption from appearance after the four officers pleaded that their presence in court will prevent them from discharging of their public duty. Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh alleged that the officers misused their official position, power and authority to level false charges against him.
Alleging that the officers misused their official position, power and authority to level false charges against him, Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh named the former army chief, Army Vice Chief Lieutenant General S K Singh, Director General Military Intelligence Lieutenant General B S Thakur, Additional Director General Public Information Major General S L Narsimhan and Directorate General of Public Information Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Hitten Sawhney.
The former army chief had disclosed in a press release that he was offered a kickback of Rs140m by a retired defence officer in exchange for clearing a tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles. Denying all the allegations, Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh had said that in the army headquarters publicly accused him and a group of serving officers of the Military Intelligence (MI) of conspiring to create a rift between the army chief and the government.
IANS
