The Govt's decision to extend the tenure of Chief of Army Staff by 30 days, instead of announcing the new appointee has sparked controversy and conjecture

It is intriguing why the appointment of Lt Gen Upendra  Dwivedi was not announced on 26 May but  on 11 June  which would have obviated a 30-day extension to COAS Gen Manoj Pande and the unnecessary speculation that followed. Government would not have been   deterred by Model Code of Conduct for election as it had already appointed  VAdm Dinesh Tripathi as Chief of Naval Staff on 19 April. That a supersession was contemplated  but not implemented as the '400 paar' goal , even 272 mark  were missed probably led to  discretion superseding valour . Further  NDA allies had already flagged the Agniveer issue!

Strange are the ways of the government. Just six days before  Pande's superannuation- bringing the appointment down to wire- it ordered an extension  after he had been feted out by his successor on 21 May. The extension was quite baffling. Government officials like Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary and others (including Director ED) who run  government for politicians get extensions as a matter of routine. In the case of ED's Sanjay Mishra, Supreme Court had to intervene to issue a deadline. But bureaucrats have made themselves indispensable like the repetition of NSA shows.

The  extension to COAS triggered extensive speculation: 

The last extension was given to COAS Gen Gopal Bewoor who  succeeded Field Marshal Manekshaw. This extension ensured that Lt Gen PS Bhagat, a Victoria Cross winner was denied the post of COAS, opening  the path for Lt Gen Tappy Raina, a Kashmiri, to get the coveted job. Incidentally, both Bewoor and Bhagat were Rimcollians (studied at RIMC Dehradun) and good friends.  Appointments of CDS and COAS have got  highly politicised but  their stature diminishing- as their most conspicuous relegation  in the seating plan during PM's oath taking ceremony demonstrated.

No one but they are to blame.  Equally unusual was Defence Minister Minister Rajnath Singh being welcomed back to MOD by CDS Gen Anil Chauhan holding a bouquet. A soldier's salute is the highest tribute.

A month's extension in the armed forces is a first, though in one case, extension was given for one day.   The extension will affect the line of succession beyond the present contenders. VCOAS Lt Gen Dwivedi was the seniormost followed by Lt Gen Ajai Singh GoC-in-C Southern Command. Both were batchmates but the tyranny of 'order of merit' while graduating from IMA dictates seniority.   Both were to retire on 30 June.

Next senior was Northern Army Commander. Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar followed by Lt Gen Raja Subramani of Central Command. Interestingly all the Generals named except the outgoing COAS who  is an Engineer officer  are Infanteers. Pande is the first Sapper officer to break the glass ceiling. On 1 July the new Army Commanders will be Lt Gens Raja Subramani  VCOAS, Devu Sharma AARTRAC, Dhiraj Seth Southern, Sengupta South Western and Manjinder Singh Central.

Traditionalists hold  that extensions in the military are not par for the course as they disrupt the line of succession and officers should refuse to accept extension. It is the government's prerogative   to choose a Service Chief by seniority,  merit and  deep selection superseding officers or even recalling the selected from retirement.  But service rules should not be tweaked whimsically .

In 2014 after BJP won the elections it tried to prevent the ruling UPA from appointing the senior most Gen Dalbir Suhag as COAS.

The thing is, Governments must not be seen  breaching the sacrosanct service rule book or inventing new rules .  Instances of supersession are rare: the most recent being the appointment of late Gen Bipin Rawat as COAS who overtook two senior Generals. Supersessions have happened in the Navy and Air Force also. Admiral Robin Dhawan in 2014 and Admiral Karambir Singh in 2019 superseded their senior  VADM's Shehkar Sinha and Bimal Verma. Superseded officers have generally resigned but some continued to serve.

So why the one-month extension to Gen Pande.

The  government  wanted to be back in power (as it was on 9 June) before taking  any unusual step like deviating from seniority principle . Remember all three - Incumbent  Pande, next senior Dwivedi followed by  Singh - were  all to retire on 30 June. If government had  wanted to appoint seniormost Lt Gen Dwivedi as COAS, his name could have been announced on 26 May as it had announced appointment of VAdm Tripathi as CNS on 19 April while moral code of conduct was on . Instead, the government preoccupied with election extended service of   Gen Pande giving itself more leeway  in naming new COAS. Choices were  A) appoint the seniormost Dwivedi. B) retire both Dwivedi and Singh and appoint either Suchindra Kumar or Raja Subramani or ….  And C) Supersede Dwivedi and appoint Singh by tweaking the rulebook (one day extension for Singh )  or deep-select from other  eligible Army Commanders.

 In the Air Force, service rules were tweaked by MoD in 1988. Air Chief Marshal Polly Mehra retired on 31 July. Air Marshal Nimmi Suri who was to retire on 31 July was given one day extension and appointed Air Chief Marshal and Chief of Air Staff, superseding Air Marshal MM Singh. In another case I believe the forenoon/ afternoon tweak was applied which is being replicated now - retiring Gen Pande  F/N and appointing Gen Dwivedi in A/N. The extension merely created a storm in a tea cup, the El Nino effect!

(The writer, a retired Major General, was Commander, IPKF South, Sri Lanka, and founder member of the Defence Planning Staff, currently the Integrated Defence Staff. The views expressed are personal)