New Delhi:
The Armed Forces Tribunal on Friday issued notice to the Army to produce the findings of the Court of Inquiry (COI) in the Sukhna land scam and raised a number of questions over the role of Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash in the case.
During the hearing by the two-member tribunal, Prakash's counsel Jyoti Singh accused Lieutenant General P K Rath, who is also facing a court martial in this case, of being the "villain" and was hurling charges because his "neck was in the noose".
Singh said her client's role was only to the extent of requesting Lieutenant General Rath that he looks into his friend's proposal to set up an educational institute on a state government adjacent to the military station.
"Where is the doubt. You have a deep interest. You expose yourself very badly here as it shows your closeness," Justice Mathur said.
When Singh said that Prakash could not have influenced the decision to issue the NOC as he was nowhere in the chain of command, Mathur said, "Military secretary is de facto Chief of Staff."
He added that no Lieutenant General will try to refuse him unless they are very upright and very straight forward as Prakash was holding an important office.
Noting that he was not able to come out of "suspicion" over Prakash's role in the case, Justice Mathur said, "Army has taken a decision to not allow the land to be used for civilian purposes and Rath has the cheeks to overrule the decision of a senior commander. That speaks volumes...unless he was pressurised by your client, why would he otherwise go back on his own decision to acquire the land."