Army chief general V K Singh, whose plea on the age issue has been rejected by the government, on Monday held a meeting with adjutant general Lt Gen J P Nehra.

The adjutant general's branch in the army has been supporting army chief's claim that his date of birth is May 10, 1951 which will give him an extra ten months in office.

The defence ministry on Friday had issued an order on the basis of attorney general's opinion that May 10, 1950 will be considered as army chief's date of birth and he will have to retire on May 31 this year.

There was no official word on what transpired at the meeting between the army chief and Lt Gen Nehra, which came amid reports suggesting that Gen Singh may consider legal recourse on the age issue.

After the ministry decided against him on the issue, the army chief had met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday.

He had met Mukherjee on December 16 also after discussing the age controversy at length with defence minsiter A K Antony in the latter's office.

If the Army Chief approaches the courts, it would be an unprecedented step since no serving defence chief has ever taken such recourse to redress personal matters.

The Army Chief has two sets of date of births in official records. The Military Secertary branch, which deals with promotions of officers, has May 10, 1950 whereas the Adjutant General's Branch has May 10, 1951 in its records.