The NDA Government on Saturday made the first major appointments in the armed forces by selecting Vice Admiral Sunil lanba, commandant of National Defence College (NDC) as the Vice Chief of Naval Staff. Three more top level Naval appointments were also cleared by the new Government.
Though this the first announcement of appointments by the new Government, lanba’s elevation for the new job and other postings were recommend by then Defence Minister AK Antony some weeks back.As part of the reshuffle, Eastern Command chief Vice Admiral Anil Chopra has been moved to Mumbai-based Western Command, Navy officials said, adding Chopra will be succeeded by Vice Admiral Satish Soni, who is heading the Southern Command.
The Kochi-based Southern Command will now be headed by Strategic Forces Commander Vice Admiral SPS Cheema, while Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Pradeep Chatterjee will take over as the head the tri-services Andaman & Nicobar Command in Port Blair. Vice Admiral RK Pattanaik has already taken over as new Deputy Chief of Navy and will be in-charge of operations in the force, they added.
The reshuffle at the top level was necessitated following resignation of then Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi and Western Command chief Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha.Joshi resigned on February 26, taking moral responsibility after the Navy was hit by a series of mishaps involving its submarines and other assets over the last 10 months.Sinha sought voluntary retirement after being overlooked for the Navy chief's post though he was senior than Dhowan.