After rejecting army chief general V K Singh's plea on his age issue, defence ministry seems to have moved on from the controversy as it formed a panel of officers for appointment of his successor.

The defence ministry has formed a panel of officers including senior-most lieutenant generals for selecting the next army chief, sources said in the national capital.

The three senior-most officers are eastern army commander Lt Gen Bikram Singh, northern army commander Lt Gen K T Parnaik and present vice chief of army Lt Gen Shri Krishna Singh.

The sources said western army commander Lt Gen Shankar Rajan Ghosh, who will retire on May 31 when the tenure of the current army chief ends, is not being considered for the appointment.

Traditionally, the senior-most officer from the panel is appointed as the army chief. In this case, Lt Gen Bikram Singh is the senior-most and most-likely to be appointed for the top post.

Of the remaining two officers, Lt Gen Parnaik is senior to Lt Gen Shri Krishna.

The sources said there is a possibility that defence ministry may declare Singh's successor much in advance to meet "any eventuality".

Under normal circumstances also, government announces names of successors of defence chiefs two to three months in advance.

On December 30, defence minister A K Antony rejected Gen Singh's statutory complaint for accepting May 10, 1951 as his date of birth, which would have given him an extra ten months in office.

If the plea had been accepted, Lt Gen Parnaik would have become the army chief after Gen Singh's retirement on March 31 next year.