Senior-most officer Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha resigns after being bypassed for Rabinder Dhowan
In a controversial decision, the Government on Thursday appointed Vice Admiral Rabinder Kumar Dhowan as the new Navy chief superseding senior most officer Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha currently heading Western Command.
In a late night report,Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha tendered his resignation, apparently after being bypassed by the Government. Hours after Dhowan took over on Thursday morning, Sinha shot off a letter to Defence Minister AK Antony seeking voluntary retirement and asked to be relieved with immediate effect.
The top post was vacant for the last 50 days after Admiral DK Joshi resigned on February 26 owning moral responsibility for accidents involving warships including two serious mishaps on board two submarines.
The Government generally adheres to the well-established seniority principle in selecting chiefs. This norm was overlooked for the first time in the history of the Navy while selecting Dhowan for the top job. He will be the 22nd Navy Chief.
Defending the decision, officials said the appointment of a Chief is the prerogative of the Government and Sinha’s candidature was under a cloud after the twin major mishaps.
The two accidents involving submarines INS Sindhurakshak and INS Sindhuratna killing 20 personnel took place in his command.
Having accepted Joshi’s resignation for the mishaps, the Government did not want to send a wrong signal by appointing Sinha as the next Chief, they said. Defence Minister AK Antony faced flak for accepting Joshi’s resignation with unseemly haste.
He had 15 months of service left before retirement and his exit upset the chain of succession as Southern Command Chief Vice Admiral Satish Soni would have taken over as Chief in August 2015.
In the new scenario, Sinha, who was scheduled to retire in August this year, had emerged as the senior-most officer followed by Dhowan retiring on May 31 this year.
He was the Vice Chief of Navy when Joshi resigned and was asked to work as acting Chief till the Government appoints the new Chief.
As regards overlooking Sinha for the Chief’s post, some officials contended that the Western Command chief was not charged or found guilty for the mishaps. An ace pilot, Sinha also has an excellent track record, and therefore was chosen to head the most prestigious Command based in Mumbai, they said.
Meanwhile, taking over the reins of the Navy after his predecessor quit over the spate of accidents, Dhowan said the force will ensure that such accidents do not happen in future and personnel follow laid down rules without resorting to shortcuts which lead to such incidents.
Earlier, asked how he will deal with a situation where Sinha, his senior will have to take orders from Dhowan, the new Chief said the force including sailors and commands will have to work together to take the Navy forward.
“Till the time we don’t work together as a team and carry out our daily tasks and face challenges, we would not be able to become a top-class Navy,” he said. “That is why, our priority would be that we will work as a team, whether it is a sailor or the commands, take forward the Navy and face the challenges in the maritime domain,” Dhowan said.
listing his priorities for the force, Dhowan said his first aim was to ensure that the Navy is combat ready to meet all the challenges at all times and secondly to ensure that “our men and officers are trained professionally and adequately.”
Dhowan was commissioned in the Navy on January 1, 1975 and is a Navigation and Direction specialist who has served in an array of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments through his career spanning 40 years. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
He has commanded frontline warships INS Khukri, INS Ranjit, INS Delhi and served as Chief Staff Officer (Operations) Headquarters Western Naval Command. He has also served as Indian Naval Adviser at the High Commission of India, london. He has commanded the Eastern Fleet as Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet and served as Chief of Staff at Headquarters Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam. He also has the distinction of commanding the prestigious National Defence Academy, his alma mater as the Commandant.