Indian Army - News Folder - May 2004

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 01 May 2004 02:06

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JTull · Post by **JTull** » 01 May 2004 17:47

High-altitude warfare school takes global aim

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 03 May 2004 08:31

Indians fighting in Iraqi soil? No joke this

JaiS · Post by **JaiS** » 03 May 2004 11:35

NO infiltration as of now: Indian Army

AmanC · Post by **AmanC** » 03 May 2004 16:12

HT Chandigarh dated May 3, 2004 (no archives)

Reduction in residual service for Army Commanders mooted
Man Aman Singh Chhina
Chandigarh, May 2
The Army top brass is contemplating a new system for selection of Army Commanders wherein the residual service required for the appointment will be reduced from two years to one year.
According to reports emanating from Army HQs, this move would give a wider array of senior officers to chose from and appoint as General Officers Commanding-in-Chief of the five field armies and the training command.
In the present system, an officer must have commanded a corps and then should have a minimum of two years of service left when he is appointed as GOC-in-C.
Senior officers say the present system has several drawbacks and needs to be corrected in order to widen the selection of officers. Presently, when an officers reaches the appointment of a Corps Commander, he knows, more or less, whether he would become an army commander or not. Officers point out that this sense of resignation in those who have no chance of picking up the appointment affects their functioning.
On the other hand, those officers who know that they would reach the appointment of army commander exhibit a certain degree of fait accompli in their actions and thus their performance is also affected.
If the proposal for reducing the residual service to one year goes through then there would be a dramatic increase in the number of contenders for the post of army commander. This would not only offer deep selection for the appointment but also ensure that the professionally sound officers do not lose out just because of the residual service angle.
A section of senior officers point out that the army commanders, lately, have never put in two years of service in one appointment anyway and the rule of residual service was more ignored then adhered to due to circumstances thus ignoring its real purpose of ensuring continuity in office.
For example, the present western army commander, Lt Gen JJ Singh has barely put in a year as GOC-in-C ARTRAC and would have put in 13 months in his present appointment when he would be due for elevation to Chief of Army Staff. In another example, Lt Gen SS Mehta also put in less then a years time in both these appointments.
While critics of the proposal point out that one years tenure would hardly be enough for an officer to accomplish his tasks in a proper manner as army commander, the votaries of the proposal say that selection of the right officer is more important and a one year tenure is enough at army commanders' level.