New Delhi: Officiating Navy chief Vice-Admiral R.K. Dhowan is likely to be India’s next Navy chief which means the senior-most serving naval officer and Western Naval Command chief Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha is all set to be superseded for the top job.
Vice-Admiral Dhowan is the second senior-most serving officer.
Top government sources said Vice-Admiral Dhowan’s name was recommended by the ministry of defence to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, which will take the final decision on the matter.
The government’s move may trigger a major controversy due to the proposed superseding of the senior-most officer.
Over the past several decades, successive governments have largely gone by the seniority principle and there have been very few instances in the armed forces when the senior-most officer has been superseded for the top job in his Service.
If superseded, Vice-Admiral Sinha is likely to resign immediately or drag the Centre to Court.
The decision to supersede Vice-Admiral Sinha can be taken as some of the recent naval accidents, including the one involving INS Sindhurakshak, happened under the Western Naval Command headed by him.
Nevertheless, it seems to have been a tough decision for defence minister A.K. Antony before he finalised the MoD’s recommendation. It is also said that the defence minister raised the matter with the top echelons of the government.
The post of Navy chief has been lying vacant for nearly seven weeks now after the resignation of Admiral D.K. Joshi on February 26 following the accident involving INS Sindhuratna that left two naval officers dead.
Admiral Joshi had resigned taking “moral responsibility” of the accidents involving naval submarines and warships which had rocked the Indian Navy from August, 2013, to February, 2014.
In fact, there are some in the MoD who feel that even the continuation of Vice-Admiral Sinha as the Western Naval Commander is untenable in view of the major accidents in the past one year that had even led to the resignation of Admiral Joshi.
But there are others who feel that Vice-Admiral Sinha could continue since he had not been held responsible for any of the accidents.
Interestingly, Vice-Admiral R.K. Dhowan has not headed any of the three Commands of the Navy. Usually, a naval officer heads one of the Commands (Eastern, Western or Southern) before becoming chief but the government has not regarded this as a handicap in any way for Vice-Admiral Dhowan’s proposed selection.
Vice-Admiral Dhowan was to have retired on May 31 this year had Admiral Joshi not resigned but now his tenure in service will automatically be extended as per rules if he becomes naval chief.
Defence sources also said that the naval brass had expressed strong reservations over the appointment of Vice-Admiral Sinha as Western Naval Commander, citing his earlier service record but ironically, the MoD had then strongly backed him.
