New Delhi: The Defence Ministry may have to go back to the drawing board and take a fresh look at how it handled the case after the Supreme Court questioned the manner in which General VK Singh's complaint about his age was rejected by the Ministry in December last year.
The apex court has given the Ministry the option of withdrawing its December order before the matter is heard by the court.
The other option for the Defence Ministry is to take fresh, independent legal opinion to decide on General Singh's complaint. This will then be heard by the Supreme Court.
However, both parties have been trying to work out a compromise.
A meeting between General Singh and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last evening raised hope of an effort to break the impasse. But, sources told that a breakthrough couldn't be achieved at the meeting.
The two sides, however, now seem to have another week to try and resolve the dispute.
Putting the Government under pressure, the Supreme Court has also raised question on the role of the Attorney General.
Referring to the Attorney General's role in the matter, the Supreme Court on Friday wanted to know how an officer who gave an opinion against the Army Chief in the first instance could also be involved in deciding on his complaint on the age issue.
The court said that there was no independent evaluation of General Singh's complaint and pointed out that the same legal authority had given his opinion in both the cases.
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