Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag appointed India's next Army Chief

New Delhi: In one of its final decisions, the Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today named Vice Chief of the Army Staff Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next head of the Indian Army after General Bikram Singh retires on 31 July. The defence ministry on Tuesday decided to go ahead with the process of appointing the next Army Chief as it recommended the name of Lt Gen Suhag for the top post. [caption id=“attachment_1521805” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Vice Chief of the Indian Army Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag. Image courtesy Indian Army[/caption] The defence ministry sent its recommendation to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) shortly after receiving the go-ahead from the Election Commission to which the matter had been referred in view of the Model Code of Conduct, highly placed sources told PTI. The sources said the recommendation had only the name of 59-year-old Lt Gen Suhag, who is the seniormost among the Lt Generals. As per tradition, the government announces the name of the next services chief two months before the tenure of the incumbent comes to an end. The appointment of the next Army Chief was mired in a controversy as the BJP strongly opposed it, questioning the “hurry” in the appointment and insisting that the matter be left to the next government as there was still time left. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Manmohan Singh government has “only 90 hours” left and “I leave it to their judgement of political propriety whether to appoint the new army chief or not when the vacancy is occurring end of July.” While giving the go-ahead to the defence ministry, the EC cited its 27 March order which makes it clear that appointments, promotions, tenders and procurements of defence forces are not covered under the Model Code of Conduct in the ongoing elections as well as any other election in the future, sources said. The EC, responding to a reference made by the defence ministry, said if the government wants, it can proceed with the process to appoint the next Chief of Army Staff, the sources added. The appointment of incumbent Chief Gen Bikram Singh was done three months prior to the retirement of his predecessor Gen VK Singh, who had a turbulent relationship with the defence ministry and even dragged the government to the Supreme Court over his age. Significantly, during the last days of his tenure as Army Chief, VK Singh had put a ‘discipline and vigilance ban’ on Lt Gen Suhag, then 3 Corps Commander, for the “failure of command and control” as an intelligence unit under him had allegedly carried out dacoity in Jorhat in Assam outside the jurisdiction of the Corps. The ban was lifted soon after Bikram Singh took over as Army Chief and Suhag was appointed the Eastern Army Commander. With PTI input