Delhi:  Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane has been given the charge of chairman of the ‘Chief of Staff’ committee

New Delhi : Army Chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane has taken over as the chairman of the ‘Chief of Staff Committee’, which consists of the chiefs of the three services. Officials aware of this development gave this information on Wednesday. The post was vacant after the death of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on December 8 in a helicopter crash of the Indian Air Force.

Sources said that General Naravane being the senior most of the three service chiefs, he has been given the charge of chairman of the committee. Before the creation of the post of CDS, usually the senior-most of the chiefs of the three services were entrusted with the post of chairman of the ‘Chief of Staff Committee’. The CDS is a four-star military officer, who is selected from amongst the officers of the Indian Armed Forces. The CDS is the chairman of the powerful Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) which comprises the three service chiefs. The possibility of appointing General Naravane as CDS was already being expressed on the basis of overall performance, including handling the standoff in Ladakh. Apart from this, he is the senior most of the three army chiefs.

General Naravane, who took command of the army chief from General Rawat, took over as the army chief on December 31, 2019 and is due to retire in the coming April i.e. in five months. On 30 September, Air Chief Marshal VR Choudhary, Chief of the Air Staff, and Admiral R. Harikumar has just taken over as the Navy Chief on November 30. In such a situation, given the experience and the challenges at present on the border, General Naravane is being considered as the strongest contender in the race for the next CDS.