The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Lt Gen A K Bhatt as the new Director General of Military Operations (DGMO).
Here are few key points of the new appointment:
- Lt Gen A K Bhatt will succeed Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, during whose tenure India carried out surgical strikes at five separate locations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to target terrorist launch pads.
- Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has been appointed as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Strike 1 Corps (Mathura), which is one of the three corps mandated to cross into Pakistan in a short notice including 2 Corps (Ambala) and 21 Corps (Bhopal).
The current DGMO, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh - In the reshuffle, Lt Gen Shokin Chauhan, who led the Strike 1 Corps, has been appointed the new chief of the Assam Rifles.
- The newly appointed Lt Gen A K Bhatt is from the Gorkha Rifles.
- Earlier this year, The Army has de-classified the promotion board results for the rank of Lt General and a major chunk of the vacancies for this particular batch have gone to officers belonging to the Gorkha Rifles and Lt Gen A K Bhatt was one of them.
- He will be in charge of all army operations including on the LoC which has seen heightened tension.
- He is currently posted as the additional director general of the complaints and advisory board at the Army HQ.
- Earlier he had served in the military operations directorate as a Brigadier before commanding the 21 Division in Assam.
- In all, the Army has 14 Corps under six operational or regional commands. The fourth is the new 17 Mountain Corps being raised as a deterrent against China.
- The appointment was cleared by the appointment committee of the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This comes two days after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif selected Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa as their new chief of army staff. The Indian government is yet to announce the names of the next new Army and IAF chiefs despite both General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha slated to retire on December 31.
The Army and IAF are eagerly awaiting the announcements of their new chiefs, which as per tradition should have been declared two months in advance. Eastern Army Command chief Lt-Gen Praveen Bakshi and IAF vice chief Air Marshal B S Dhanoa are tipped to be the new chiefs.
