Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande creates history

Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ May 26,2024

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet, on May 26, 2024, approved the extension in service of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj C Pande, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC for a period of one month, beyond his normal age of superannuation (May 31, 2024), i.e. up to June 30, 2024, under Rule 16 A (4) of the Army Rules 1954. He was appointed as the COAS on April 30, 2022. He was commissioned in December 1982 in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers). He held the appointment of Vice Chief of the Army Staff before taking over as the COAS.

Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj C Pande, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC created history as he became the second COAS after General S. H. F. J. Manekshaw to get an extension in the service.

Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande creates history.According to the IA’s Army Rules, 1954 – a COAS-appointee reaches superannuation upon the completion of three years in the position or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier. However, COAS-appointees are almost never given any extension to their tenures; strikingly, the only times such was ever granted was to General S. H. F. J. Manekshaw, the then-COAS, who received a six-month extension – which postponed his original superannuation date of June 1972 to January 1973 and in 1975.

Born May 6, 1962, Pande has been the 29th army chief for over two years. Service chiefs have a three-year term or serve until they turn 62, whichever is earlier. Before assuming the charge of vice chief, Pande was heading the Kolkata-based Eastern Command, which is responsible for guarding India’s borders with China in the eastern sector.