Vice-Admiral Bimal Verma, the top navy officer overlooked by the government for the navy chief’s position, has filed a statutory complaint to defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman against his supersession, two people familiar with the move said on Thursday.

The government last month had appointed Vice-Admiral Karambir Singh as the next navy chief, overlooking Verma. Verma has requested that his complaint be decided in 10 days, said one of the people cited above.

He petitioned the Armed Forces Tribunal against the order on Monday. But the principal bench of the AFT asked him to withdraw his plea, saying he should raise the issue of his supersession with the defence ministry first.

Verma, who heads the Andaman and Nicobar Command in Port Blair, would have been the senior-most officer in the navy on May 31 when Admiral Sunil Lanba retired. But the government last month decided against appointing him and opted for Singh. Singh currently heads the Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command.

Earlier, when General Bipin Rawat was named army chief in December 2016, the NDA government did supersede two lieutenant generals who were senior to him. The previous UPA government also did not go by the seniority in 2014 when Admiral Robin Dhowan superseded a senior officer to become the navy chief.

First Published: Apr 12, 2019 08:24 IST