In a radical changed in the promotion policy for top military generals in the armed forces if implemented, the Union Defence Ministry is examining a proposal where the Commanders-in-chief (C-in-C) in the Army, Navy and Air Force should be selected on merit rather than seniority.
A report in Times of India quoted sources saying that the proposed aim is to evolve a more progressive, common and merit-based policy for the promotion of officers to the three-star ranks (Lt-Generals in Army, Vice Admirals in Navy and Air Marshals in IAF) in general and Cs-in-C (senior three-stars who head different commands in armed forces) in particular.
“A tri-Service committee of the vice chiefs of the Army, Navy and IAF is likely to be formed to study the proposal and recommend suitable merit-based criteria for selection of Cs-in-C,” sources reportedly said.
However, some quarters within the armed forces have expressed serious reservations against the proposal saying it will lead to politicization of top ranks in the armed forces.
“Only a handful of officers reach three-star ranks after being assessed on merit at every step in their careers. Why tinker with a policy that has worked well for decades? This so-called ‘deep selection’ will needlessly lead to politicisation of top ranks,” a senior officer said.
The report also said the proponents of the change in policy contend merit and not just seniority, should be deciding factor in selecting the top ranks as the country heads for tri-service theatre commands and organisations to build an integrated land-air-sea war fighting machinery.
As per the existing policy, promotion to the C-in-C level is based on an officer’s date of birth and the date of commissioning, which is mostly four decades ago. It added that an officer in the army must have a residual service of 3 years left from the date of his approval as a Lt-General in order to command one of the 14 corps in the force.
Then the officer after commanding the corps must have residual service of 18 months to be promoted as the C-in-C of one of the six operational and one training command. The residual service clause for Cs-in-Cs in Navy and Air Force is 12 months.
An officer in the armed forces adds that with the date of birth, qualifying residual service and commissioning seniority being the criteria in existing policy, promotion of Lt-Generals to the C-in-C is automatic depending on the vacancies.
The earlier governments have followed the seniority principal to appoint new military chief with few exceptions. The BJP government appointed General Bipin Rawat as Army chief in 2016 by superseding two Lt-Generals senior to him. He was then appointed as the country’s first-ever chief of defence staff in Dec 2019.
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