Page 178 - Leadership in the Indian Army

proximity to Nehru and Menon, in fact became more powerful than the
Chief himself.
Sam often made disparaging remarks about Indian politicians, which led

some people to brand him as anti-national. Based on information gained by
informers who were sent by Kaul for this purpose, Army HQ ordered a
Court of Inquiry to investigate his behaviour. Normally, the Adjutant
General’s Branch handles such cases but in this case, it was the General
Staff Branch under Kaul, which dealt with the inquiry. The members of the
Inquiry were Lieutenant General Daulet Singh, GOC-in-C Western
Command, and Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, GOC 15 Corps.

There were three charges against Sam. The first charge was that he was
disloyal to the country. This was based on the fact that he had hung in his
office pictures of British Viceroys, Governors General and Commanders-in-
Chief, instead of Indian leaders. Actually, Sam had found these old pictures
of Clive, Hastings, Kitchener and Birdwood dumped in a store, and had
decided to put them up in a suitable place in his office. The second charge

concerned Sam’s failure to take action against an instructor, who had during
a lecture remarked that Indians lacked a sense of perspective and tended to
build up personalities out of proportion. The instructor, who was a naval
officer, mentioned that Shivaji’s statue in Bombay showed him riding an
Australian Waler when in actual fact, the terrain in the Western Ghats was
suitable only for ponies. Sam had later told the instructor to be more tactful,
but it was felt that he should have taken more drastic action.

The third charge was even more interesting. An officer on his staff
deposed that the Commandant had said that he did not want any instructor
at the College whose wife looked like an ayah (maidservant). When
questioned by the Court of Inquiry, this officer agreed that he had not heard
Sam say these words and neither could he remember who had told him.
Kaul had also managed to get a report from the Intelligence Bureau about

Sam’s anti-Indian views but when called to give evidence, its Director, B.N.
Mullick, refused to appear.
It appears strange that a Court of Inquiry was ordered by Army HQ on
such insubstantial grounds, and that too against a senior officer. Apart from
the charges being flimsy and downright ludicrous, the fact that Kaul was
able to rope in two lieutenant generals—including an Army Commander—
to conduct the proceedings, is a measure of the authority and power that he

wielded at that time. It is rare for a lieutenant general to conduct an inquiry,