New Delhi: There has been a major reshuffle at the top within the Indian Army Headquarters and the various other formations including the Corps Commanders, administrative and training institutions witnessing the change of guard. A new Deputy Chief of Army Staff (DCOAS) is also supposed to take charge soon.
Lt Gen Shantanu Dayal has been named the new DCOAS. Lt Gen Dayal is the Corps Commander of the Tejpur-based 4 Corps. He will take the place of Lt Gen SS Hasabnis who superannuated on December 31 as soon as his replacement arrives.
The other significant change is in the newly-created Department of Military Affairs (DMA) with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as its first Secretary. Lt Gen Taranjit Singh, the first Army officer to join as the Additional Secretary in the Department of Military Affairs under the Ministry of Defence, superannuated on December 31.
He was the Deputy Chief (Operations) in the Integrated Defence Staff which has become part of the DMA since the formation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff. Lt Gen Anil Puri took charge who till recently was the Corps Commander of Army’s 12 Corps. Lt Gen PS Minhas takes charge as the 12 Corps Commander.
A Corps, in the hierarchy of fighting formations, is the first of all arms and services combined formation which can conduct independent operations.
Lt Gen Tumul Verma, who was the General Officer Commanding (GoC) of 101 sub-area, has taken charge from Lt Gen Anil Kapoor as the new DG of the Electrical, Mechanical and Engineering (EME) Corps.
Lt Gen Rajeev Sabherwal, Signal Officer-in-Charge (SO-in-C) has retired and has been replaced by Lt Gen MM Bhurke. Lt Gen Bhurke was the Commandant of Military College of Telecommunication Engineering. The SO-in-C is the overall in-charge of all signal-related issues of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
The National Cadet Corps (NCC) has Lt Gen Tarun Kumar Aich as its new Director-General as Lt Gen Rajiv Chopra superannuated on December 31.
Commandant Staff College YVK Mohan has retired and Lt Gen MJS Kahlon will take his place. Earlier, he was the DG of Mechanised Forces.
Soon, the two Officers Training Academies at Gaya and Chennai will have new Commandants.
The Commandant of Officers Training Academy (OTA), Gaya, Lt Gen Sunil Srivastava superannuated on December 31 and is to be replaced by Maj Gen VG Reddy on his promotion as Lt Gen on January 7. He is the Deputy Commandant of OTA Gaya currently.
Also, the Commandant of OTA, Chennai position, was lying vacant since few months, been announced as Lt Gen MK Das to take charge soon.
Interestingly, Major General Gautam Chauhan took charge as the first Additional Director General (Human Rights) at the Army Headquarters and will report directly to the Army Vice Chief. He will be the nodal officer to examine every case of human rights within the 13 lakh-strong Army.
