Disciplinary action could lead to a court martial against Lt Gen Prakash, who is in the dock in the scam along with two other lieutenant generals and a major general.
Terming the Sukhna land scam allegedly involving a top army officer as an "aberration", government today said it will not tolerate even a single instance of corruption in the armed forces.
"What happened in Sukhna and in some other cases are aberrations. Already, the Army has taken strong action. I do not want to say anything further. We cannot tolerate even a single instance of corruption," defence minister AK Antony said on the sidelines of an awards ceremony to honour the best tableaux of the Republic Day here.
Antony's statement comes days after he asked army chief General Deepak Kapoor to initiate disciplinary action against Lt Gen Awadesh Prakash, military secretary in the army, who has been indicted in the Sukhna land scam.
Disciplinary action could lead to a court martial against Lt Gen Prakash, who is in the dock in the scam along with two other lieutenant generals and a major general.
The minister downplayed corruption in the Army saying, "armed forces have a much better system of correcting things and punishing the guilty."
The defence minister said, "You should compare what is going on around. Compared to many other institutions, armed forces and army are doing much better to take action and correct aberrations in the system."
The defence minister asked to look at the positive aspect of the armed forces and its traditions, saying the sacrifices made by jawans and the officers must also be looked at.
"Our jawans and officers are sacrificing their life, their blood, their health to protect every inch of our territory, to safeguard border security. We must salute them and protect their honour," he said.
Lt Gen Prakash, considered close to the army chief, retired today.
Eastern army commander Lt Gen VK Singh, the army chief designate, had recommended tough action against Lt Gen Prakash and other accused officers on the basis of a Court of Inquiry which indicted them for issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) for sale of a 71-acre land adjacent to Sukna military station in West Bengal's Darjeeling.
The Army Chief had earlier ordered only administrative action against Lt Gen Prakash wherein the court martial was not a requirement. Prakash was issued a show-cause notice to which he had replied.
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