New Delhi: The defence ministry said Sunday it would prefer to settle the issue of army chief General V.K. Singh's age in the Supreme Court rather than deal with it administratively. It also reiterated that its July 2011 directive to the army to place the date of birth at May 10, 1950 instead of May 10, 1951 holds good.

Defence ministry sources said here that the government has reiterated its instruction of July 2011 in a letter dated Jan 23, 2012.

"At this stage, we will prefer to deal with the matter in the court and not administratively. By the way, we had in July last year issued such an instruction to the Adjutant General's branch after the ministry had rejected the army chief's formal request to maintain 1951 as his year of birth. We have only reiterated the July order," said a senior defence ministry official.

Stating that "much water has flown down the river since July 2011 order," the official further said: "The statutory complaint from the army chief against that rejection was filed in August 2011 which the ministry rejected in December 2011."

"The army chief has filed a case in the court," he added.

In an unprecedented move, General Singh had a week ago filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Dec 30, 2011, rejection of his statutory complaint asking the ministry to maintain his year of birth as 1951 that will entitle him to an extended 10-month tenure till March 2013.

The matter is expected to come up before the Supreme Court this week.

The age controversy stems from two sets of age records of Gen. Singh with the Adjutant General's and Military Secretary's branches. While the Adjutant General's branch, the official record keeper and responsible for pay and pensions, has 1951 as the year of birth, the Military Secretary's branch, which deals with postings and promotions, has 1950 as his year of birth.

While all of Gen Singh's previous appointments from Second Lieutenant to Major General were made on the basis of 1951 as the year of birth, his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General in 2006 was made on the basis of 1950, as the Military Secretary's records reflected 1950 as the year of birth as mentioned in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) application form for admission to the National Defence Academy in 1965 as a 14- or 15-year-old.

Singh's promotions as corps commander, army commander and the army chief were made considering his year of birth as 1950 on the basis of an "acceptance" by him in 2006 and 2008. This "acceptance" was given under duress, contends Gen. Singh before the Supreme Court.

The age row has become an issue as a 10-month extended service for Gen Singh will upset the army's existing succession plan. The mantle will pass on to present Eastern Army Commander Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh if the chief retires in May as per official schedule. If he retires in March 2013, with his year of birth taken as 1951, the present Northern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. K.T. Parnaik, gets to become the chief.