Chief of Defence Staff’s powers will unfold over three months

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the creation of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), it is still not clear what will be the duties of the new man at the top of the military hierarchy.

The CDS will be tasked to ensure synergy in training, logistics, planning and procurements among the Army, Navy and the IAF.

The government has two options for the rank structure and two separate options for the powers to be vested in the CDS. A special committee headed by the Defence Secretary tasked for this is expected to give a report in November.

On the rank structure, the government could have a five-star rank CDS, who would be above the four-star rank Service Chiefs.

Second option would be to have four-star rank officer, but then the new appointee will have to be designated as “first among equals” to the Service Chiefs to exercise some control and authority.

On the issue of powers to be vested in the CDS, in May 2001, a group of ministers (GoM) headed by former Minister of State for Defence Arun Singh recommended the appointment of CDS with ‘administrative control’, not operational control.

The Kargil Review Committee set up after the Kargil war (May-July 1999) talked about the CDS. Lt General Vinod Bhatia, former Director General Military Operations (DGMO), who heads the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, says: “The CDS should have the requisite mandate and authority. Give it time to evolve as acceptability will be an issue. Need is to align authority and accountability.”

(Also read: "Where does CDS fit in?" by Pravin Sawhney)

This will also enhance much-needed integration among the three services, says General Bhatia. Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), who is Additional DG Centre for Air Power Studies, says: “Let it be a gradual process. Let’s wait and see what the government wants”.

Modi in the past few years had stressed on synergy in operations. The reason is costs, the Ministry of Defence spends some 16 per cent of the country’s budget and still need more.

A CDS is likely to be followed up by re-organising single-Service commands into integrated theatre commands for better synergy in joint operations. At present there are 19 commands, including the Strategic Forces Command and the Andaman and Nicobar Command, spread across the three services.

Viable options before govt

• On the rank structure, the government could have a five-star rank Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who would be above the four-star rank Service Chiefs 
• Second option would be to have a four-star rank officer, but then the new appointee will have to be designated as ‘first-among equals’ to exercise some control and authority