Quit due to dysfunctional environment in Navy, Admiral D K Joshi says

NEW DELHI: Admiral DK Joshi, who resigned as Navy chief on February 26 taking moral responsibility for repeated accidents involving naval vessels, said the root cause of his resignation was the "dysfunctional and inefficient" operating environment in the Navy, and that he was surprised at the haste with which the UPA government accepted his resignation.

Breaking his silence of almost eight months, Admiral Joshi told a TV channel, "The operating environment was dysfunctional and I felt being a service chief is not just about preening about on national TV, taking a salute on Republic Day. People tell you, 'oh you looked so smart in your uniform', in actual fact you are unable to get a set of batteries for your submarines and to my mind, that was a completely untenable situation for continuation as a chief, it had been building up."

He said he was also surprised at the haste with which then defence minister AK Antony accepted his resignation. "Where there is authority, there is no accountability. And where there is responsibility, there is no authority," he said.

"Professional competence, domain expertise, accountability, responsibility and authority, these all reside in separate silos in different locations. While professional competence, accountability, responsibility is with the service, that is not the case with authority. And by authority, I really mean the power to approve something, empowerment to approve something or the other," Admiral Joshi added.

He said for example, change of submarine batteries which are available indigenously or for commencing refits and repairs of ships, aircraft, submarines in Indian yards, the services do not have that empowerment.

Admiral Joshi also hinted that he took these concerns repeatedly to the government. "Those who know me will tell you that I am not the sort of person who will take the complaint only once to the higher authority and keep quiet about it," he said.

The former Navy chief said he was amused at the speed with which the UPA government accepted his resignation.

When asked what prompted the UPA government to accept his resignation with such haste, Admiral Joshi said, "On the speed of its acceptance, I really have no comments. In my letter, I had requested that it would be with immediate effect. I said it should be done immediately. No issue with that but that it was accepted in a couple of hours amused me that there was such haste to pin it on someone."

When pointed out that such a senior-level resignation should have been taken to the Cabinet committee on security, at least to the Cabinet or to the Prime Minister, he said while he wouldn't comment on the process, "but that it took just a couple of hours should perhaps provide an indication of the route it took."

He said the haste perhaps showed that the government may have been concerned what if he changed his mind.