Jammu, 22 September 2026: Lieutenant General Mohit Seth will assume charge as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Indian Army’s Nagrota-based White Knight Corps, also known as XVI Corps, on 1 October 2026. He will succeed Lieutenant General P. K. Mishra, who will move to a new assignment. The formal change of command will take place at a baton-handing ceremony.
The White Knight Corps, raised on 1 June 1972 and headquartered at Nagrota in Jammu district, is one of the most operationally significant formations of the Northern Command. It is responsible for a wide area south of the Pir Panjal range, extending towards the Jammu plains and Akhnoor. The Corps is tasked with securing the International Border and the Line of Control, and with conducting counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch and the erstwhile Doda region. Delta Force and Romeo Force of the Rashtriya Rifles operate under its operational control.
Profile of the incoming Corps Commander
Lieutenant General Seth is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the National Defence College. He was commissioned into the 3 Madras Regiment in 1991 and has more than three decades of distinguished service. He is presently Commandant of the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT), the Indian Army’s training establishment in Bhutan. He earlier succeeded Lieutenant General Mishra in that appointment as well, before Lieutenant General Mishra took over XVI Corps on 1 April 2025.
His operational record includes command of Counter-Insurgency Force Kilo, an elite Rashtriya Rifles formation responsible for anti-terror operations in north Kashmir. He has also served as the Indian Army Liaison Officer at the High Commission of India in the United Kingdom, and has held key command and staff appointments in Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and at Army Headquarters. The appointment marks his return to a principal operational role in the Jammu and Kashmir theatre.
Outgoing commander
Lieutenant General P. K. Mishra, of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, assumed command of the White Knight Corps on 1 April 2025, succeeding Lieutenant General Navin Sachdeva. He was recently awarded the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal by the President of India at the Defence Investiture Ceremony 2026 (Phase II). He is also a recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, the Yudh Seva Medal and the Sena Medal. Officials said he will proceed to a new posting after relinquishing command.
The succession places an officer with extensive counter-insurgency, staff and international experience at the head of a Corps that remains central to the security of the Jammu region and the western sector of the Line of Control.
