Army chief to serve as head till a new CDS is appointed
Army chief General MM Naravane has been appointed Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee. He is the senior-most among the three Services Chiefs and will serve as the Chairman till a new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is announced.
The institution of Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, was functional till two years ago to ensure cohesion and synergy between the three Services. However, the role was taken over by General Rawat when he was made the first CDS of the country in January last year and the Committee was made redundant.
Naravane’s appointment as the head of the Committee is a stop-gap arrangement till the political leadership appoints the new CDS, sources said here on Thursday. General Rawat, his wife, and 12 others were killed in a helicopter crash on December 8.
The Government went by the principle of selecting the senior most amongst the three Chiefs for the newly created CDS post and appointed General Rawat as he was the senior-most then.
If the same principle or tradition is followed, General Naravane may become the next CDS given his seniority. As Army chief, his tenure is till March next year.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reviewed the fall out of the accident on December 8, including the appointment of a new CDS. However, no decision was taken, sources said here on Thursday.
Given the current situation on the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh with stand-offs with China on for the last nearly two years and the Line of Control (LOC) with Pakistan, the post of CDS cannot remain vacant for long, sources said. The Government is well-aware of this and may announce the new CDS in the next few days, they added.