In a move likely to trigger a major controversy, the Government on Saturday did away with the criteria of appointing the senior-most officer as the Army chief and selected lt General Bipin Rawat to head the Army. Rawat, who is serving as Vice-Chief of Army, superseded the senior most officer lt General Praveen Bakshi and second senior most officer lt General PM Hariz. An infantry officer, Rawat will take over as the new chief after Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag retires on December 31.
It is the second time in three-and-half-decade that the Government has ignored the seniority yardstick while appointing the Army chief.
The last time such an unprecedented step was taken in 1983 when then senior-most officer lt General SK Sinha, then serving as Vice-Chief of Army, was superseded and his junior lt General A Vaidya was made the chief in 1983.
Sinha had resigned in protest.
However, in case of appointment of chief of the Indian Air force, the Government went by seniority and selected Air Marshal BS Dhanoa as the new chief. He is now serving as Vice-Chief of IAF and will take charge as chief after incumbent Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha retires on December 31.
As per convention, the names of the incoming chiefs are announced at least two months prior to the retirement of the incumbent. However, the current political dispensation chose to make public the names just days prior to the retirement of the present heads. In fact, the name of Navy chief Admiral Sunil lanba was also announced just 20 days before the incumbent Admiral RK Dhowan was to retire on May 31 this year.
The Government will have to specify the reasons for ignoring the seniority issue while selecting Rawat as it will now lead to upsetting the entire chain of succession.
However, sources said Bakshi, an armoured corps officer and now in charge of the Eastern Command, may become Permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee.
This post will be a new creation and the four-star General will act as single-point military advisor to the political leadership on matters of national security. A committee headed by then Home Minister l k Advani had recommended setting up of such a post in 2000. This committee was asked to look into issues of higher defence management in the wake of Kargil war in 1999. Following its recommendations some new institutions like Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Andaman and Nicobar Tri-Services Command were set up.