The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the hearing in the ongoing stand-off between Army chief General V K Singh and the government over his age till February 10.

It has given the government time to consider if it wants to withdraw its order. The apex court also asked the Attorney General to seek instruction from govt on withdrawing its order rejecting the statutory complaint of Army Chief on age issue.

The SC questioned the procedure adopted by the govt in passing the December 30 order in not allowing the complaint of army chief Gen VK Singh.

The court also observed that the entire process on deciding the army chief's age issue by the Dec 30 order appears to be vitiated.