Ex-Brigadier accused of posing as Major General

A retired Army officer has red flagged what he calls a case of impersonation of a General officer by a retired Brigadier. On April 20 Major General PR Dhawan complained to Army Chief General Dalbir Singh that Brigadier Gurdip Singh Uban had been impersonating a Major General. He termed it a 'misdemeanour' and 'conduct unbecoming of a senior retired officer'.

Major General Dhawan referred to the Gymkhana Club directory of 2013 where Uban is referred to as Major General and wears the uniform and rank epaulettes of a general officer. "He introduced himself as a Major General when he met me last year. I was shocked to discover he was not," Major General Dhawan told Mail Today. The Adjutant General's branch responded to Major General Dhawan on May 28 sharing his concerns but said that the Army could not proceed against the officer because he had retired in 1994 (Army service rules apply only three years after retirement). The Army requested the retired officer to register the offence with police authorities, a step which he says he is contemplating.

Brigadier GS Uban (retired) told Mail Today that he had no idea how his name appeared with the rank. "Those inputs (in the club directory) were not given by me at all. I have no idea who published them," he said. He explained that he was appointed Inspector General (Special Frontier Force), a post in a covert paramilitary organisation that operates under the Cabinet Secretariat. "Every IG-SFF since 1963 has worn the uniform and badges of rank of a Major General because he commands troops," Uban said.

Incidentally, Uban's father, Major General SS Uban raised the force in 1963 and was the SFF's first IG, an appointment held by incumbent Army chief General Dalbir Singh in 2011. Major General Dhawan said the paramilitary rank of IG cannot be equated with a defence rank and is a post not a rank. Members of the prestigious Gymkhana Club where Brigadier Uban is part of the general committee have flagged the issue in internal letters.

"For all practical purposes he is an imposter using a General officer's rank," Vice Admiral Subhash Chopra wrote in an April 14 letter to club president Vijay Chhibber. "Promotion to this prestigious rank has to have the approval of the Government of India and the sham theory of equivalence with DIG/ IG is reprehensible because they are non-military ranks in any case. He can either be a Brigadier or a DIG-how he acquired the rank of a Major General is indeed a mystery."