Union defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said India’s second chief of defence staff (CDS) will be appointed ‘soon,’ even as the post continues to remain vacant more than six months after the untimely demise of the first CDS, General Bipin Rawat, in an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu on December 8 last year.
“The appointment of the CDS will be made soon. The process for it is underway,” Singh said at a briefing in the national capital during which he, along with the three service chiefs, launched the armed forces’ ambitious ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme.
Earlier this month, the Centre issued a notification, widening its selection pool for the appointment of the next defence chief, the senior most military office in the country. As per the new rules, any serving or retired lieutenant general, or an officer of the corresponding ranks in the navy and air force – vice admiral and air marshal respectively- under the age of 62 years, will be eligible for selection.
At the same time, the army, navy and air chiefs remain eligible to be promoted as CDS.
In his Independence Day address of 2019, prime minister Narendra Modi announced the post of chief of defence staff; on January 1, 2020, a day after his tenure as chief of army staff came to an end, General Rawat took over as the inaugural CDS.
The CDS acts as the government’s single point of contact for advice on military-related issues.