Top international companies announce successors to outgoing chiefs six months or even a year in advance. The time affords the organisation to settle down with the newly named head. This quells pulls and pressures which can arise if uncertainty prevails till the end. In India, however, we have in recent times permitted unseemly jockeying to top positions even in government on account of last- minute announcements.
There is one more coming up soon — that of the Army Chief. The current head, General Bikaram Singh, is due to retire on July 31. It is the duty of the government and the political system as a whole — this can’t be emphasised enough as we are in the middle of a national election which will throw up a new government — to ensure that the highest appointments in our armed forces are not sullied by considerations of politics.
Lt. Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag, the head of the Eastern Command, is the most senior officer in the Army and should ordinarily take over from Gen. Bikram Singh, unless Lt. Gen. Anil Chaith, a former Central Command chief who is now at headquarters leading the Integrated Defence Forces, gets an extension. He is due to retire before the next Chief takes over. Extensions are not common. But for this route, however, Gen. Manekshaw and Gen. Bewoor would not have come to lead the Indian Army.
As matters stand, and if the seniority principle is not tampered with, Lt. Gen. Suhag should take charge as Chief on August 1. To that extent, the discussion over whether the Manmohan Singh government should make the announcement or leave this formality to the next government is largely academic. Normally, in the Army’s case, a successor Chief is named only two months ahead of time, not more. Thus, the announcement could be left to the next government, expected to be in place in early June. It would be a pity, however, if former chief Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd), who was embroiled in controversy and is now a BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha, is permitted to use his influence to scuttle Lt. Gen. Suhag’s case, against whom he had put a black mark which was later erased.
The recent Navy case of superseding the most senior officer for Chief does not serve us here. Vice-Admiral Chandra Shekhar Sinha was overlooked in favour of Vice-Admiral R.K. Dhowan as the major accidents involving submarines — over which Admiral Joshi took “moral responsibility” and resigned in February — occurred within his operational jurisdiction. If the Army gets to follow the Navy and Air Force pattern of letting a Chief take over even with a year’s service remaining, we can have a wider net of efficient top officers to choose from.
