Indian army position
The Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS ) is a statutory position in the
Indian Armed Forces usually held by a three star
lieutenant general . As the second highest-ranking officer to serve in the
Indian Army , the VCOAS is the deputy professional head of the Indian Army and a senior adviser to the
Minister of Defence . The office holder is usually the second most senior army officer unless the Chief of Defence is an army officer.
Eleven of the forty Vice Chiefs have gone on to head the Indian Army as the
Chief of the Army Staff .
The current VCOAS is
Lieutenant General
Upendra Dwivedi who assumed the office on 19 February 2024.
History
In the
British Indian Army , the
Chief of the General Staff (CGS) assisted the
Commander-in-Chief, India .
After the
Independence , the CGS remained the number two officer in the Indian Army below the
Commander-in-Chief, India . and later the Chief of Army Staff. In January 1959, the post of
Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (DCOAS) was created to replace the CGS at the Army HQ. The DCOAS was the second-in-command and was equivalent to an Army Commander (GOC-in-C).
In January 1965, the CGS post became the Vice Chief of the Army Staff , with the DCOAS becoming a PSO appointment.
[1]
[2]
Lieutenant General
P.P. Kumaramangalam took over as the first VCOAS.
Order of Precedence
The VCOAS ranks at No. 23 on the
Indian order of precedence , along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the
Indian Navy and
Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C).
[3]
The VCOAS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).
[4]
Appointment
The Vice Chief of Army staff is appointed by the
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet , chaired by the
Prime Minister , from among the senior general officers of the Army. Since the appointment is of Commander-in-Chief grade, the appointees are usually one of the Army Commanders of the seven commands.
Unlike the Chief of Army Staff, there is no fixed term nor term limit to the position of the VCOAS, although most of those appointed to the office have typically served for two or three year tenures.
Appointees
The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
S.No.
Portrait
Name
Assumed office
Left office
Unit of Commission
COAS
Ref
1
Lieutenant General
Paramsiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam ,
DSO
MBE
[1]
15 January 1965
7 June 1966
Regiment of Artillery
Gen.
J. N. Chaudhuri
[5]
[6]
2
Lieutenant General
Kashmir Singh Katoch ,
MC
8 June 1966
22 November 1970
East Surrey Regiment
Gen.
Kumaramangalam
[7]
Gen.
Manekshaw
3
Lieutenant General
Har Prasad,
PVSM
23 November 1970
31 October 1973
3rd Cavalry
[8]
Gen.
Bewoor
4
Lieutenant General
Mohan Lal Thapan,
PVSM
1 November 1973
31 July 1974
Jat Regiment
[9]
5
Lieutenant General
Naveen Chand Rawlley ,
PVSM
AVSM
MC
1 August 1974
31 December 1975
12th Frontier Force
[10]
Gen.
Raina
6
Lieutenant General
A. M. Vohra,
PVSM
1 January 1976
19 January 1977
3rd Gorkha Rifles
[11]
7
Lieutenant General
Om Prakash Malhotra ,
PVSM
[2]
20 January 1977
31 May 1978
Regiment of Artillery
[12]
8
Lieutenant General
Stanley Leslie Menezes,
PVSM
SC
1 July 1978
31 January 1980
The Grenadiers
Gen.
Malhotra
[13]
[14]
9
Lieutenant General
Jaswant Singh,
PVSM
AVSM
1 February 1980
6 July 1980
Punjab Regiment
10
Lieutenant General
Adi Meherji Sethna ,
PVSM
AVSM
7 July 1980
31 December 1982
6th Rajputana Rifles
[15]
Gen.
Krishna Rao
11
Lieutenant General
Srinivas Kumar Sinha ,
PVSM
1 January 1983
1 June 1983
Jat Regiment
[16]
[17]
[18]
12
Lieutenant General
Gajendra Singh Rawat,
PVSM
AVSM
5 August 1983
31 December 1984
5th Gorkha Rifles (FF)
Gen.
Vaidya
[19]
[20]
13
Lieutenant General
Krishnaswamy Sundarji ,
PVSM
[3]
13 February 1985
31 January 1986
2 Mahar Regiment
[21]
[22]
14
Lieutenant General
K. K. Hazari,
PVSM
AVSM
1 February 1986
31 May 1987
Regiment of Artillery
Gen.
Sundarji
15
Lieutenant General
J. K. Puri,
PVSM
AVSM
1 June 1987
31 August 1987
Regiment of Artillery
[23]
16
Lieutenant General
Sunith Francis Rodrigues ,
PVSM
AVSM
[4]
1 November 1987
20 April 1989
Regiment of Artillery
[24]
Gen.
Sharma
17
Lieutenant General
V. K. Sood,
PVSM
AVSM
15 May 1989
29 February 1992
Dogra Regiment
[25]
Gen.
Rodrigues
18
Lieutenant General
Vijai Singh,
PVSM
1 March 1992
30 June 1993
8th Light Cavalry
[26]
19
Lieutenant General
Surinder Nath,
PVSM
AVSM
1 July 1993
30 June 1995
Regiment of Artillery
Gen.
Joshi
Gen.
S. R. Chowdhary
20
Lieutenant General
M. L. Dar,
PVSM
AVSM
1 July 1995
31 July 1996
17th Horse (Poona Horse)
[27]
21
Lieutenant General
Ved Prakash Malik ,
PVSM
AVSM
[5]
1 August 1996
30 September 1997
Sikh Light Infantry
22
Lieutenant General
Chandra Shekhar,
PVSM
AVSM
ADC
1 October 1997
30 September 2000
4th Gorkha Rifles
Gen.
Malik
[28]
23
Lieutenant General
Vijay Oberoi,
PVSM
AVSM
VSM
1 October 2000
30 September 2001
Maratha Light Infantry
Gen.
Padmanabhan
[29]
[30]
24
Lieutenant General
Nirmal Chand Vij ,
PVSM
UYSM
AVSM
[6]
1 October 2001
31 December 2002
Dogra Regiment
[31]
25
Lieutenant General
Shantonu Choudhry,
PVSM
AVSM
VSM
1 January 2003
31 December 2004
Regiment of Artillery
Gen.
Vij
[32]
[33]
26
Lieutenant General
Bhupinder Singh Thakur,
PVSM
AVSM
15 January 2005
30 September 2005
Central India Horse
[34]
[35]
Gen.
J. J. Singh
27
Lieutenant General
S. Pattabhiraman,
PVSM
AVSM
SM
VSM
1 October 2005
31 December 2006
Bombay Sappers
[36]
[37]
28
Lieutenant General
Deepak Kapoor ,
PVSM
AVSM
SM
VSM
ADC
[7]
1 January 2007
30 September 2007
Regiment of Artillery
[38]
[39]
29
Lieutenant General
Milan Lalitkumar Naidu,
PVSM
AVSM
YSM
1 October 2007
31 December 2008
Rajput Regiment
Gen.
Kapoor
[40]
[41]
[42]
30
Lieutenant General
Noble Thamburaj,
PVSM
SM
1 January 2008
30 September 2009
Bombay Sappers
[43]
[44]
[45]
31
Lieutenant General
Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj ,
PVSM
AVSM
VrC
SC
VSM
1 October 2009
30 November 2010
Parachute Regiment
[46]
[47]
[48]
Gen.
V. K. Singh
32
Lieutenant General
Arvinder Singh Lamba,
PVSM
AVSM
6 December 2010
30 September 2011
Regiment of Artillery
[49]
[50]
33
Lieutenant General
Sri Krishna Singh ,
PVSM
UYSM
AVSM
1 October 2011
31 December 2013
8th Gorkha Rifles
[51]
Gen.
Bikram Singh
34
Lieutenant General
Dalbir Singh Suhag ,
PVSM
UYSM
AVSM
VSM
ADC
[8]
1 January 2014
31 July 2014
5th Gorkha Rifles (FF)
[52]
35
Lieutenant General
Philip Campose ,
PVSM
AVSM
VSM
1 August 2014
31 July 2015
9th Gorkha Rifles
Gen.
Dalbir Singh
[53]
[54]
36
Lieutenant General
Man Mohan Singh Rai ,
PVSM
AVSM
VSM
1 August 2015
31 July 2016
Bombay Sappers
[55]
37
Lieutenant General
Bipin Rawat ,
PVSM
UYSM
AVSM
YSM
SM
VSM
ADC
[9]
1 September 2016
31 December 2016
11th Gorkha Rifles
[56]
38
Lieutenant General
Sarath Chand ,
PVSM
UYSM
AVSM
VSM
13 January 2017
31 May 2018
Garhwal Rifles
Gen.
Rawat
[57]
39
Lieutenant General
Devraj Anbu ,
PVSM
UYSM
AVSM
YSM
SM
ADC
1 June 2018
31 August 2019
Sikh Light Infantry
[58]
40
Lieutenant General
Manoj Mukund Naravane ,
PVSM
AVSM
SM
VSM
ADC
[10]
1 September 2019
30 December 2019
Sikh Light Infantry
[59]
41
Lieutenant General
Satinder Kumar Saini ,
PVSM
AVSM
YSM
VSM
ADC
25 January 2020
31 January 2021
Jat Regiment
Gen.
Naravane
[60]
42
Lieutenant General
Chandi Prasad Mohanty ,
PVSM
AVSM
SM
VSM
ADC
1 February 2021
31 January 2022
Rajput Regiment
[61]
43
Lieutenant General
Manoj Pande ,
PVSM
AVSM
VSM
ADC
[11]
1 February 2022
30 April 2022
Bombay Sappers
[62]
44
Lieutenant General
Baggavalli Somashekar Raju
PVSM
UYSM
AVSM
YSM
1 May 2022
28 February 2023
Jat Regiment
Gen.
Pande
[63]
45
Lieutenant General
M. V. Suchindra Kumar ,
PVSM
AVSM
YSM
**
VSM
1 March 2023
18 February 2024
Assam Regiment
[64]
46
Lieutenant General
Upendra Dwivedi ,
PVSM
AVSM
19 February 2024
30 June 2024
Jammu and Kashmir RIfles
[65]
See also
Notes
1.
^ Later promoted to the post of General and the Chief of Army Staff.
References
Leadership Components and Commands Army Commands
Operational Commands Functional Commands Joint Commands
Active Corps
Arms & Services
Military Academies
Education & Training Colleges Tri-Service Institutions
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