Vice Chief of the Army Staff (India)

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.

Not to be confused with Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (India).

Vice Chief of the Army Staff
Flag of the Vice Chief of the Army Staff
 Indian Army
StatusSecond in command
AbbreviationVCOAS
Reports to Chief of the Army Staff
SeatArmy HQ, New Delhi
AppointerACC
Constituting instrumentArmy Act, 1950 (Act No. 46 of 1950)
Formation15 January 1965 (1965-01-15)
First holderP. P. Kumaramangalam

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 M. V. Suchindra Kumar who assumed the office on 1 March 2023.[1] Lt. Gen. Raju's appointment is one of rare instances where an officer has been promoted as Vice Chief without heading any of the Army’s regional commands.[2]

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.[3][4]

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).[5]

The VCOAS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).[6]

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

 15 January 1965 7 June 1966 Regiment of Artillery Gen. J. N. Chaudhuri [7][8]
2 Lieutenant General

Kashmir Singh Katoch, MC

 8 June 1966 22 November 1970 East Surrey Regiment Gen. Kumaramangalam [9]
Gen. Manekshaw
3 Lieutenant General

Har Prasad, PVSM

 23 November 1970 31 October 1973 3rd Cavalry [10]
Gen. Bewoor
4 Lieutenant General

M. L. Thapan, PVSM

 1 November 1973 31 July 1974 Jat Regiment [11]
5 Lieutenant General

Naveen Chand Rawlley, PVSM AVSM MC

 1 August 1974 31 December 1975 12th Frontier Force [12]
Gen. Raina
6 Lieutenant General

A. M. Vohra, PVSM

 1 January 1976 19 January 1977 3rd Gorkha Rifles [13]
7 Lieutenant General

Om Prakash Malhotra, PVSM

 20 January 1977 31 May 1978 Regiment of Artillery [14]
8 Lieutenant General

Stanley Leslie Menezes, PVSM SC

 1 July 1978 31 January 1980 The Grenadiers Gen. Malhotra [15][16]
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 [17]
Gen. Krishna Rao
11 Lieutenant General

Srinivas Kumar Sinha, PVSM

 1 January 1983 1 June 1983 Jat Regiment [18][19][20]
12 Lieutenant General

Gajendra Singh Rawat, PVSM AVSM

 5 August 1983 31 December 1984 5th Gorkha Rifles (FF) Gen. Vaidya [21][22]
13 Lieutenant General

Krishnaswamy Sundarji, PVSM

 13 February 1985 31 January 1986 2 Mahar Regiment [23][24]
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 [25]
16 Lieutenant General

Sunith Francis Rodrigues, PVSM AVSM

 1 November 1987 20 April 1989 Regiment of Artillery [26]
Gen. Sharma
17 Lieutenant General

V. K. Sood, PVSM AVSM

 15 May 1989 29 February 1992 Dogra Regiment [27]
Gen. Rodrigues
18 Lieutenant General

Vijai Singh, PVSM

 1 March 1992 30 June 1993 8th Light Cavalry [28]
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 Poona Horse [29]
21 Lieutenant General

Ved Prakash Malik, PVSM AVSM

 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 [30]
23 Lieutenant General

Vijay Oberoi, PVSM AVSM VSM

 1 October 2000 30 September 2001 Maratha Light Infantry Gen. Padmanabhan [31][32]
24 Lieutenant General

Nirmal Chand Vij, PVSM UYSM AVSM

 1 October 2001 31 December 2002 Dogra Regiment [33]
25 Lieutenant General

Shantonu Choudhry, PVSM AVSM VSM

 1 January 2003 31 December 2004 Regiment of Artillery Gen. Vij [34][35]
26 Lieutenant General

Bhupinder Singh Thakur, PVSM AVSM

 15 January 2005 30 September 2005 Central India Horse [36][37]
Gen. J. J. Singh
27 Lieutenant General

S. Pattabhiraman, PVSM AVSM SM VSM

 1 October 2005 31 December 2006 Bombay Sappers [38][39]
28 Lieutenant General

Deepak Kapoor, PVSM AVSM SM VSM ADC

 1 January 2007 30 September 2007 Regiment of Artillery [40][41]
29 Lieutenant General

Milan Lalitkumar Naidu, PVSM AVSM YSM

 1 October 2007 31 December 2008 Rajput Regiment Gen. Kapoor [42][43][44]
30 Lieutenant General

Noble Thamburaj, PVSM SM

 1 January 2008 30 September 2009 Bombay Sappers [45][46][47]
31 Lieutenant General

Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj, PVSM AVSM VrC SC VSM

 1 October 2009 30 November 2010 Parachute Regiment [48][49][50]
Gen. V. K. Singh
32 Lieutenant General

Arvinder Singh Lamba, PVSM AVSM

 6 December 2010 30 September 2011 Regiment of Artillery [51][52]
33 Lieutenant General

Sri Krishna Singh PVSM UYSM AVSM

 1 October 2011 31 December 2013 8th Gorkha Rifles [53]
Gen. Bikram Singh
34 Lieutenant General

Dalbir Singh Suhag, PVSM UYSM AVSM VSM ADC

 1 January 2014 31 July 2014 5th Gorkha Rifles (FF) [54]
35 Lieutenant General

Philip Campose, PVSM AVSM VSM

 1 August 2014 31 July 2015 9th Gorkha Rifles Gen. Dalbir Singh [55][56]
36 Lieutenant General

Man Mohan Singh Rai, PVSM AVSM VSM

 1 August 2015 31 July 2016 Bombay Sappers [57]
37 Lieutenant General

Bipin Rawat, PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM VSM ADC

 1 September 2016 31 December 2016 11th Gorkha Rifles [58]
38 Lieutenant General

Sarath Chand, PVSM UYSM AVSM VSM

 13 January 2017 31 May 2018 Garhwal Rifles Gen. Rawat [59]
39 Lieutenant General

Devraj Anbu, PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM ADC

 1 June 2018 31 August 2019 Sikh Light Infantry [60]
40 Lieutenant General

Manoj Mukund Naravane, PVSM AVSM SM VSM ADC

 1 September 2019 30 December 2019 Sikh Light Infantry [61]
41 Lieutenant General

Satinder Kumar Saini, PVSM AVSM YSM VSM ADC

 25 January 2020 31 January 2021 Jat Regiment Gen. Naravane [62]
42 Lieutenant General

Chandi Prasad Mohanty, PVSM AVSM SM VSM

 1 February 2021 31 January 2022 Rajput Regiment [63]
43 Lieutenant General

Manoj Pande, PVSM AVSM VSM

 1 February 2022 30 April 2022 Bombay Sappers [64]
44 Lieutenant General

Baggavalli Somashekar Raju, UYSM AVSM YSM

 1 May 2022 28 February 2023 Jat Regiment Gen. Pande [1]
45 Lieutenant General

M. V. Suchindra Kumar, AVSM YSM** VSM

 1 March 2023 Present Assam Regiment

See also

Notes

1.^ Later promoted to the post of General and the Chief of Army Staff.

References
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