Chief of the Army Staff (India)

The Chief of the Army Staff is the commander and usually the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army. The position is abbreviated as COAS in Indian Army, and usually held by a four-star officer in the rank of General.

The current COAS is General Bipin Rawat, who took office on 31 December 2016 following the retirement of General Dalbir Singh.^[1]

Office of the Chief of the Army Staff

The office of the Chief of the Army Staff was created through The Commanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act of the Indian Parliament in 1955. It replaced the erstwhile office of the Commander-in-Chief, Army.^[2] The office is based at South Block of the Central Secretariat at Raisina Hill, New Delhi.

Appointments to the office are made by the President of India. The COAS reaches superannuation upon three years in the office or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.

Appointees

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Chief of the Army Staff or its preceding positions since the independence of India.^[3]

Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army (1947–1955)

( *Seconded from the British Army )

No.	Name	Rank	Photo	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	Decorations
1	Rob Lockhart*	General		15 August 1947	31 December 1947	51st Sikhs	KCB, CIE, MC
2	Roy Bucher*	General		1 January 1948	15 January 1949	Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)	KBE, CB, MC
3	K M Cariappa	General (later Field Marshal)		16 January 1949	14 January 1953	Rajput Regiment	OBE
4	Rajendrasinhji Jadeja	General		14 January 1953	1 April 1955	2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)	DSO[4]

Chief of the Army Staff (1955–present)

No.	Name	Rank	Photo	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	Decorations
1	Rajendrasinhji Jadeja	General		1 April 1955	14 May 1955	2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)	DSO
2	S M Shrinagesh	General		15 May 1955	7 May 1957	19th Hyderabad Regiment (now Kumaon Regiment)
3	K S Thimayya	General		8 May 1957	7 May 1961	19th Hyderabad Regiment (now Kumaon Regiment)	Padma Bhushan, DSO, ADC
4	P N Thapar	General		8 May 1961	19 November 1962	1st Punjab Regiment
5	J N Chaudhuri	General		20 November 1962	7 June 1966	7th Light Cavalry	Padma Vibhushan, OBE
6	P P Kumaramangalam	General		8 June 1966	7 June 1969	Regiment of Artillery	Padma Vibhushan, DSO, MBE
7	S H F J Manekshaw	General (later Field Marshal)		8 June 1969	15 January 1973	54th Sikhs (Frontier Force)	Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, MC
8	G G Bewoor	General		16 January 1973	31 May 1975	Dogra Regiment	PVSM
9	T N Raina	General		1 June 1975	31 May 1978	Kumaon Regiment	Padma Bhushan, MVC
10	O P Malhotra	General		1 June 1978	31 May 1981	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM
11	K V Krishna Rao	General		1 June 1981	31 July 1983	Mahar Regiment	PVSM
12	A S Vaidya	General		1 August 1983	31 January 1985	9th Deccan Horse	Padma Vibhushan, PVSM, MVC (Bar), AVSM
13	Krishnaswamy Sundarji	General		1 February 1985	31 May 1988	Mahar Regiment	PVSM, ADC
14	V N. Sharma	General		1 June 1988	30 June 1990	16th Light Cavalry	PVSM, AVSM, ADC
15	S F Rodrigues	General		1 July 1990	30 June 1993	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM, VSM
16	B C Joshi	General		1 July 1993	19 November 1994	64th Cavalry	PVSM, AVSM, ADC
17	S Roy Chowdhury	General		20 November 1994	30 September 1997	20th Lancers	PVSM, ADC
18	V P Malik	General		1 October 1997	30 September 2000	Sikh Light Infantry	PVSM, AVSM, ADC
19	Sundararajan Padmanabhan	General		1 October 2000	31 December 2002	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC
20	N C Vij	General		1 January 2003	31 January 2005	Dogra Regiment	PVSM, UYSM, AVSM
21	J J Singh	General		1 February 2005	30 September 2007	Maratha Light Infantry	PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC
22	Deepak Kapoor	General		1 October 2007	31 March 2010	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC
23	V K Singh	General		1 April 2010	31 May 2012	Rajput Regiment	PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC
24	Bikram Singh	General		1 June 2012	31 July 2014	Sikh Light Infantry	PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC
25	Dalbir Singh	General		1 August 2014	31 December 2016	5 Gorkha Rifles	PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC
26	Bipin Rawat	General		31 December 2016	Current	11 Gorkha Rifles	UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM

See also

• Chief of the General Staff (India) - for those holding the preceding role before 1947
• Chief of Air Staff (India)
• Chief of the Naval Staff (India)
• Field marshal (India)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indian Army Chief.

References

Sources

• Khanduri, Chandra B. (2006). Thimayya: an amazing life. New Delhi: Knowledge World. p. 394. ISBN 978-81-87966-36-4. Retrieved 30 July 2010. 

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