NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday appointed Lt. Gen. Anil Chauhan (Retired) as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Lt. Gen. Chauhan (retd), 61, will also function as secretary, department of military affairs (DMA). He has formerly headed the Eastern Army Command and was Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) during the Balakot air strike in 2019.
It took government nearly nine months to decide on Lt. Gen. Chauhan as the CDS after Gen. Bipin Rawat was killed in a Mi-17V5 helicopter crash in December last year near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.
Both Gen. Bipin Rawat and Lt. Gen. Anil Chauhan hail from 11 Gorkha Rifles.
The government in June had amended service rules to allow serving and retired three-star officers (Lieutenants General and equivalent ranks from other services), under the age of 62 years to be appointed as CDS.
As per initial indications, Lt. Gen. Chauhan, who superannuated as eastern Army commander in May 2021 will be reemployed in the service and promoted to four-star General rank. The immediate challenge for Lt. Gen. Chauhan will be to resume the process of theaterisation which got stalled after the death of Gen. Rawat and bring greater jointness among the three services.
As Eastern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Chauhan has experience of dealing with the Chinese. He was also Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) during the Balakot air strike in 2019. After retirement, he was appointed adviser to National Security Council Secretariat which reports to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
“The government has decided to appoint Lt. General Anil Chauhan (retired) as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who shall also function as secretary to government of India, department of military affairs with effect from the date of his assumption of charge and until further orders, ” said the defence ministry in a statement.
This put to rest speculation that the CDS role could be bifurcated.
In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Lt. Gen. Chauhan had held several command, staff and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East India.
Born on May 18, 1961, Lt. Gen. Chauhan was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1981. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.
In the rank of Major General, he had commanded an infantry division in the critical Baramulla sector in the Northern Command. Later, as Lt. General, he commanded a corps in the North-East and subsequently went to become General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command from September 2019 till his retirement from service.
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