Nepal Army Major General Taradhwaj Pandey resigns
Pandey’s resignation comes amid controversy surrounding his actual age.
Kathmandu: Nepal Army senior Major General Taradhwaj Pandey has resigned from the post after the national army launched an investigation into controversy surrounding his actual age.
Sources at the Ministry of Defence said the ministry has received his resignation.
The national army had formed a probe committee led by Lieutenant General Sitaram Khadka as per the direction by the Chief of the Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma to probe the matter. Sources said the three-member committee has been investigating the issue for the past three days.
Lieutenant General Saroj Pratap Rana retired in October last week and it is still unclear who will be next to lead the national army. As per the Army Act, a senior major general of the army is recommended for promotion to lieutenant general. Accordingly, the NA headquarters had started the process for Pandey’s promotion.
According to the military service regulations, the headquarters had also called complaints against Pandey with a week deadline.
Copies of Pandey’s citizenship and educational certificates with different dates of birth reached the Ministry of Defence and other agencies concerned while the NA was taking the process ahead for his promotion. His year of birth was stated differently in the documents.
According to sources, Pandey said that his birth date was 1966 and claimed all his documents had mentioned the same age in response to the questions posed against him. The army started an investigation after his statement contradicted the documents made public.
Pandey will retire in the third week of November if he is not promoted. His resignation will open doors for another Major General Ashok Sigdel to be promoted in his place.
The tenure of the NA chief Sharma will expire on September 9 next year. If there was no controversy over Pandey’s date of birth, he would have succeeded Sharma based on seniority.
