Lt Gen Manoj C Pande next Army Chief, first from Corps of Engineers

New Delhi, April 18

Lt Gen Manoj C Pande has been appointed the next Chief of the Army. He will take over on April 30, the day General MM Naravane superannuates.

Currently the Vice Chief of the Army, Lt General Pande has commanded the Eastern Command and served as Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman amp; Nicobar Command. A decision to appoint the next Chief of Defence Staff has not been announced yet. The post of CDS has been vacant since General Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash on December 8.

Lt General Pande will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to be Chief of the Indian Army. The Corps was raised in 1777 by the British.

Before Lt General Pande, the only officer from the Engineers who came close to heading the Army was Lt Gen PS Bhagat, who was recommended by then Army Chief General SHFJ Manekshaw. However, the Indira Gandhi-led government gave an extension to General Manekshaw for the 1971 war victory against Pakistan. Later, his successor General GG Bewoor was also given a year’s extension while he was the Chief.

Lt General Bhagat was made head of the Damodar Valley Corporation. Incidentally, Lt General Bhagat was part of the two-member Henderson Brooks report on the 1962 war debacle. Born on May 6, 1962, Lt General Pande was commissioned into the Bombay Sappers, a regiment of the Corps of Engineers, in December 1982. He will retire on May 31, 2024. The Chiefs of the three services retire at 62 years of age.

He has held several prestigious command and staff assignments in conventional as well as counter-insurgency operations in all types of terrain. He commanded an engineer regiment along the Line of Control during Operation Parakram (launched after Parliament attack in December 2001) in Jamp;K, an engineer brigade in the western sector, an infantry brigade along LoC, 8 Mountain Division in the Kargil area and the Tezpur-headquartered 4 Corps.

He has served as chief engineer in the United Nations mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. For his illustrious service, he has been conferred Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, the Chief of Army Staff Commendation and the GOC-in-C Commendation.

To take over as 29th COAS on April 30

Lt Gen Pande, who is currently serving as Vice Chief, will be first Chief of Army Staff from Corps of Engineers
He has commanded Eastern Command and also served as Commander-in-Chief of Andaman and Nicobar Command, which is India’s only tri-services command
An NDA alumnus, he was commissioned in Corps of Engineers in December 1982
He has been conferred Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal