New
Delhi:
The Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL (public interest litigation) seeking to
remove Union Minister VK Singh over alleged anti-Army statements he had made on
February 7; the statements were made with reference to the border stand-off
with China along the LAC.
The
court dismissed the PIL saying it was for the Prime Minister to remove a
minister, and asked the petitioner to focus on helping the country rather than
file such petitions.
The
petitioner - activist Chandrasekaran Ramasamy had argued that the comments by
VK Singh - a retired four-star General in the Indian Army - were in breach of
his oath as a minister and had weakened India's global authority, as well as
offering China a justification for its transgressions.
Mr
Ramasamy had said the government did not spare ordinary citizens for such
comments, and said no special treatment should be afforded to Mr Singh either.
The
court, however, was not convinced.
“If
the minister gives a statement... you file a PIL to remove him? It appears you
(the petitioner) are a scientist. Use your energy to help the country,” Chief
Justice of India NV Ramana said.
“If
the minister is not good it is for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to decide, not
us,” he added.
In
February, Mr Singh made certain remarks while answering a question on the China
border row.
“With
China our border has never been demarcated. Over a period of time, there have
been transgressions where China says, 'this is my perception of the LAC',” Mr
Singh had told reporters.
The
contentious bit was: “... none of you come to know how many times we have
transgressed as per our perception. We don't announce it.. but let me assure
you, if China has transgressed 10 times, we must have done it at least 50
times.”
China
pounced on the statement to declare that “India's transgressions” were the root
cause of tensions at the Line of Actual Control, or LAC, which is the de-facto
border between the countries.
The
border row erupted in June last year after 20 Indian soldiers died for their
country in a clash with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley.
Last
week India and China agreed to hold the next round of military talks - to
continue defusing of tensions - at an early date to achieve the objective of
complete disengagement in remaining friction points amid fresh sparring over
the prolonged standoff.
The
last round of talks took place against renewed sparring over the standoff and
deadlock over disengagement after withdrawal of troop from the north and south
banks of Pangong Lake in February.
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