New rules allow ex-officers to hold CDS post

• Amendments in Service Rules of the Army, Navy and Air Force, allowing retired Service Chiefs and three-star officers eligible for consideration for the country’s top military post.

As per New Rules:

• Age limit- should not have attained 62 years on the date of appointment.
• Eligibility-
  • An officer who is serving as Lieutenant General or General or an officer who has retired in the rank of Lieutenant General or General.
  • All three-star rank officers who have retired in the last two years eligible, as Lieutenant Generals in the Army, ViceAdmirals in the Navy and Air Marshals in the Air Force retire at the age of 60.
• Similar amendments were made in the service rules of the Navy and Air Force as well.

Why amendments are required:

• The gazette notification of December 2019,
  • At beginning, it was not specifically stated that serving officers of Lieutenant General rank and equivalent are eligible to be considered.
  • The government approved the creation of the post of CDS, who would also function as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister and Permanent Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC).
  • The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) was created as the fifth department in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), with the CDS functioning as its Secretary.
• Gen. Bipin Rawat took over as the first CDS on January 1, 2020.
  • He, along with his wife Madhulika Rawat and 12 others, was killed in a chopper crash on December 8, 2021.
  • The post of CDS has been lying vacant since then.

Prelims Takeaway

• CDS
• COSC