‘Govt has right, but seniority matters’

Vijay Mohan

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 18

The appointment of Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Bipin Rawat as the next Army Chief, superseding two other officers, has kicked up an intense debate on the government bypassing the long-standing convention of appointing the senior-most officer as the service chief.

While there is no legal lacuna in the government’s move as the selection is ought to be done on a seniority-cum-merit basis, there is also a feeling in some quarters that the existing practices should not have been disturbed as it may have ramifications on the functional environment and ethos of the armed forces.

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The move may also affect the “line of succession” that defines the career path of senior officers based upon the arm to which they belong and their age and the ratio of officers from different arms being placed in particular appointments. Some officers also feel that the situation is unlikely to have a lasting impact on the army as the force is professional and mature enough to absorb unexpected developments.

“The Army Chief-designate is an excellent officer, but I am not too happy with the move of the government as it may result in subjectivity in future and the possibility of the system being manipulated. There is no established system to compare officers at the level of army commanders and it is very difficult to decide who is better among his peers,” said Lt Gen TK Sapru, former GOC-in-C, Western Command.

He said: “We were following a system of selecting the senior-most commander who was objective and should have carried on with it unless something wrong had been brought out.”

Lt Gen AS Sekhon, former Director General Military Operations and 15 Corps Commander, said: “The concept of seniority should have been retained otherwise it may lead to politicisation of the army and officers at the top may line up to please the political leadership.”

He said: “The principle of seniority has been accepted by all branches and the army’s hierarchy was mentally prepared for Lt Gen Bakshi to take over. The government’s move will create a huge dent in the functioning of the armed forces and create friction between different arms and services with the possibility of officers from different arms attempting to cut each other at the lower levels to gain edge.”

Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, an armoured corps officer, and Lt Gen PM Hariz, among the few Muslim officers to reach the top, became army commanders in August 2015, while Lt Gen Rawat became an army commander in January 2016. Lt Gen BS Negi, whose name also cropped up in the debate, is from the same course as Lt Gen Rawat and became an army commander in January 2016, but is junior to Lt Gen Rawat by virtue of his service number.

“Legally, it is well within the government’s powers to choose a service chief from amongst the eligible officers. One aspect of service jurisprudence for selection to a post that is mandated for all central government departments is that there should be a ratio of at least 1:3,” Col SK Aggarwal, former officer of the Judge Advocate General’s Branch said.

“Besides the career profile of an individual, several other factors such as suitability in the prevailing geostrategic situation, age commensurate with full tenure and other inputs from the defence and home ministries are considered,” he said.

“Many officers get superseded at all levels for varying reasons in their course of service and this happens in other government departments also. So why make a noise with a lieutenant general getting superseded,” said Col Bipin Pathak, a former Intelligence officer, adding: “Ïnter se merit should always be the consideration for promotion and since it is the elected government that is answerable to the people, it has the right to chose whom they consider best for the post.”