Both Army Chief, General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha will superannuate on 31 December, just three weeks from now. But suspense continues about their respective successors as the government’s official notification announcing the new appointments have got delayed, even as Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar confirmed to this reporter that the new names have been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Top sources in the Prime Minister’s Office have said that the government has finalised the names of the next Army and Air Force chiefs, and the required procedure of the names being discussed in the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA) is being completed. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, however, refused to reveal the names. He told this reporter, “The names have been sent to the PMO and CCA and within a few days after 16 December, the last day of the ongoing winter session of Parliament, the new Indian Army and Air Force Chiefs’ names would be announced.”
As per normal practice, in all the three services, the next chief is announced at least three months prior to the date of the incumbent’s superannuation. In Army, the senior-most commander in the service is usually appointed the Army Chief and in the IAF, the senior most Air Marshal is appointed the next Air Chief.
Considering the present seniority structure in the Army, the current Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi is the senior-most and if government follows norms, he is expected to be the next Army Chief. If his name is approved by the government, Lt Gen Bakshi will be the first chief from the Armoured Corps after General Shankar Roychowdhary, who retired in 1997. In the Air Force, it’s the present Vice Chief of the Air Force, Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa who is the senior-most amongst all Air Marshals.
The delay in the announcement of the names of the Army and Air Force chiefs has given rise to speculation that the government may not follow the norm of appointing the senior most officer this time. The other senior most officer in the race to be the next Air Chief is Air Marshal S.B. Deo. He is currently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the Western Air Command and is considered as one of the most reputed Air Marshals in the Air Force. In the Army, the current Vice-Chief, Lt Gen Bipin Rawat is one of the strongest names being considered for the post of Army Chief.
Appointing the senior-most officer is just a norm, not a rule. “While the delay in announcement of the next Army and Air Chiefs is certainly unusual, the government must have a strong reason to do so. Speculation about the next incumbent is, however, avoidable since the government is well within its right to choose from among all those eligible to take the top spot. Hopefully, the names will be out in the coming week,” said Nitin A. Gokhale, national security analyst.