Chief of the Army Staff (India)

The Chief of the Army Staff is the commander and usually the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army. The position is abbreviated as COAS in Indian Army cables and communication, and usually held by a 4-star officer in the rank of General.

The current COAS is General Bikram Singh, who took office on 31 May 2012.

Office of the Chief of the Army Staff

The office of the Chief of the Army Staff was created through The Commanders-In-Chiefs (Change in Designation) Act of the Indian Parliament in 1955. It replaced the erstwhile office of the Commander-in-Chief, Army. The office is based at South Block of the Central Secretariat at Raisina Hill, New Delhi.

Appointments to the office are made by the President of India. The COAS reaches superannuation upon three years in the office or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.

Appointees

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Chief of the Army Staff or its preceding positions since the independence of India.

No.	Name	Rank	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	Decorations
1	Sir Robert McGregor Macdonald Lockhart*	General	15 August 1947	31 December 1947	Infantry - 51 Sikhs Frontier Force	KCB, CIE, MC
2	Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher*	General	1 January 1948	15 January 1949	Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)	KBE, CB, MC
3	Kodandera Madappa Cariappa	Field Marshal	16 January 1949	14 January 1953	Infantry - Rajput Regiment	OBE
4	Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja	General	15 January 1953	14 May 1955	Armoured Corps, 2nd Lancers	DSO
5	Satyawant Mallannah Shrinagesh	General	15 May 1955	7 May 1957	Infantry - Kumaon Regiment
6	Kodandera Subayya Thimayya	General	8 May 1957	7 May 1961	Infantry - Kumaon Regiment	Padma Vibhushan, DSO, ADC
7	Pran Nath Thapar	General	8 May 1961	19 November 1962	Infantry - 1st Punjab Regiment
8	Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri	General	20 November 1962	7 June 1966	Armoured Corps, 16th Light Cavalry and 7th Light Cavalry	Padma Vibhushan, OBE
9	Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam	General	8 June 1966	7 June 1969	Regiment of Artillery	Padma Vibhushan, DSO, MBE
10	Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw	Field Marshal	8 June 1969	15 January 1973	Infantry - 8 Gorkha Rifles	Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, MC
11	Gopal Gurunath Bewoor	General	16 January 1973	31 May 1975	Infantry - 11 Gorkha Rifles and Dogra	PVSM
12	Tapishwar Narain Raina	General	1 June 1975	31 May 1978	Infantry - Kumaon Regiment	Padma Bhushan MVC
13	Om Prakash Malhotra	General	1 June 1978	31 May 1981	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM
14	Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao	General	1 June 1981	31 July 1983	Infantry - Mahar Regiment	PVSM
15	Arun Shridhar Vaidya	General	1 August 1983	31 January 1985	Armoured Corps, Deccan Horse	Padma Vibhushan, PVSM, MVC(Bar), AVSM
16	Krishnaswamy Sundarji	General	1 February 1985	31 May 1988	Infantry - Mahar Regiment	PVSM, ADC
17	Vishwa Nath Sharma	General	1 June 1988	30 June 1990	Armoured Corps, 16th Light Cavalry	PVSM, AVSM, ADC
18	Sunith Francis Rodrigues	General	1 July 1990	30 June 1993	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM, VSM
19	Bipin Chandra Joshi	General	1 July 1993	19 November 1994	Armoured Corps, 64 Cavalry	PVSM, AVSM, ADC
20	Shankar Roychowdhury	General	20 November 1994	30 September 1997	Armoured Corps, 20th Lancers	PVSM, ADC
21	Ved Prakash Malik	General	1 October 1997	30 September 2000	Infantry - Sikh Light Infantry	PVSM, AVSM, ADC
22	Sundararajan Padmanabhan	General	1 October 2000	30 December 2002	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM, AVSM,VSM, ADC
23	Nirmal Chander Vij	General	31 December 2002	31 January 2005	Infantry - Dogra Regiment	PVSM, UYSM, AVSM
24	Joginder Jaswant Singh	General	31 January 2005	30 September 2007	Infantry - Maratha Light Infantry	PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC
25	Deepak Kapoor	General	30 September 2007	31 March 2010	Regiment of Artillery	PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC
26	Vijay Kumar Singh	General	31 March 2010	31 May 2012	Infantry - Rajput Regiment	PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC
27	Bikram Singh	General	31 May 2012	Current	Infantry - Sikh Light Infantry	PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM, SM, ADC

References

• Khanduri, Chandra B. (2006). Thimayya: an amazing life. New Delhi: Knowledge World. pp. 394. ISBN 978-81-87966-36-4. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ZWXfAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 30 Jul 2010.