The Supreme Court on Friday refused to be drawn into the spectacle that continues to unfold on the Army chief's age, leaving it entirely to the government to decide which date be held as his year of birth.

After a marathon hearing, the apex court disposed Army chief General V K Singh's plea before it that the court determine his correct date of birth. Facing some tough questions during the proceedings, General Singh withdrew his petition a little after 2 pm, following which it was disposed.

There are two sets of General Singh's birth dates on various records – May 10, 1950 and May 10, 1951. The government in three orders – two last July and one in December – has held that his birth year should be considered 1950 as has been recorded in several documents.

Its last order on December 30 rejected Singh's statutory complaint in which he had argued in favour of 1951 -- follwowing which he approached the Supreme Court this January.

The Supreme court asked some tough questions to General Singh's counsel on Friday. The bench asked why Singh maintains he was born in 1951 when all ''threshold documents'' show he was born a year earlier.

Without doubting Singh's ''integrity, honesty and honour'', the bench said it would not interfere in the matter but leave it to the government to fix his real date of birth.