Contrary to speculations, Western Command Chief Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha is likely to be the new Navy Chief as the government is expected to go by the traditional seniority criteria in appointing the new chief.
The new Chief is likely to be announced next week after Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and comprising Defence Minister AK Antony clears the name.
The process of screening the names of contenders for the top job commenced soon after Admiral DK Joshi resigned on Wednesday owning moral responsibility for series of mishaps involving warships, including fire on board submarine INS Sindhuratna off Mumbai resulting in the death of two officers.
Faced with the sudden turn of events after Joshi’s resignation, the government does not want to keep the post of the Navy Chief vacant for long and started the process of selecting the next Chief, officials said here on Saturday.
The process entails shortlisting at least three to four contenders and in this case Vice Chief of Navy Vice Admiral RK Dhowan besides Sinha, Eastern Command Chief Vice Admiral Anil Chopra and Southern Command Chief Vice Admiral Satish Soni are in the race. Dhowan was made the acting Chief on the recommendation of Joshi till the government appoints the new Chief.
Elaborating upon the subsequent steps before selecting the Chief, officials said the track record of all the contenders are examined and the Government generally goes by the seniority criteria if his credentials are impeccable.
Citing the example of General Shankar Roychowdhury, they said he was the seniormost officer of the Army when the then Army Chief General BC Joshi died of a heart attack while in service in 1994.
At that point of time also, the Government went by convention of selecting the seniormost officer and Roychowdhury, who was then commanding Army Training Command, Shimla, was made the Chief.
In this backdrop, reports about certain adverse remarks against Sinha in his annual confidential reports led to speculation that he may not make it to the Chief’s post. Moreover, there were unconfirmed reports that the two mishaps involving submarines, including INS Sindhurakshak in August last and Sindhuratna earlier week, happened in his command and this could go against him.
As regards adverse remarks, officials said Sinha, an ace Naval pilot, was appointed Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) in 2011 after getting due clearance from the law Ministry after he approached the Defence ministry when he was overlooked for this promotion.
They also said the adverse remarks were also removed from his record after following the correct and legal procedure and the same process was followed when Sinha was appointed as the Commander of the prestigious Western Command in 2012.
However, the issue of mishaps is tricky and the government will have to weigh all options before selecting Sinha as the next Chief, they said, adding he was not asked to step down as it could have hit the morale of the Navy after Joshi put in his papers.
He was due to retire after another 15 months if he had not resigned and Satish Soni was tipped to be next chief after Joshi. At present, Sinha is the seniormost officer and is due to retire in August this year while Dhowan, who is junior to him retires in May end. Chopra retires in March 2015 while Soni retires in February 2016, they said.