Lt General Anil Chauhan appointed new Chief of Defence Staff
1 min read 28 Sep 2022, 06:55 PM ISTChauhan will also function as Secretary to Government of India, Department of Military Affairs
PremiumThe ministry of Defense on Wednesday announced Lt General Anil Chauhan (Retired) has been appointed as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The release also stated that Chauhan will also function as Secretary to Government of India in the Department of Military Affairs.
The top post of Chief of Defence Staff fell vacant on 8 December, 2021 after the sudden demise of General Bipin Rawat. A helicopter crash killed the then CD, his wife and dozen others. India had been left without a CDS since then.
Chauhan retired as the General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C) of Eastern Command in May 2021.
The ministry of defense informed that in a career spanning over nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (Retd) had held several command, staff and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East India.
Earlier, the Government of India has notified new rules to appoint the chief of defence staff. The next Chief of Defence Staff could be anyone from the three serving chiefs, any serving three-star officer, any retired chief who is below 62 or any retired three-star officer also below the same age.
According to the notification, the top serving and retired officers from the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy had been made eligible for the top post.
An important change brought about by the Government in eligibility criteria that facilitated the appointment of Anil Chauhan was the inclusion of recently retired service chiefs and vice chiefs, despite the age ceiling being 62 years.
Former Chief of Defence Staff- Bipin Rawat
The position of India's Chief of Defence Staff remained vacant after an air force helicopter crash killed India's military chief Bipin Rawat and 13 other people. The military court attributed the helicopter crash that killed Rawat and his wife to bad weather conditions.
The helicopter was flying through a valley last month with Gen. Bipin Rawat, his wife and 12 other army and air force personnel on board when a change in weather led the pilot to fly into clouds, the court of inquiry said.
The Russian-made Mi-17V5 helicopter was on its way from an air force base to the army defense services college when it crashed near the town of Coonoor, a hill station in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
