Appointment of Chief of Defence Staff will be made soon: Rajnath Singh

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday announced that the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will be made soon.

The announcement comes a few days after the guidelines for the appointment process were formally amended by the government.

The new guidelines make retired officers of the rank of Lt Gen or General eligible to be appointed as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).


According to new gazette notifications for the three armed forces, any Lt Gen or Gen equivalent officer (retired or serving) below the age of 62 can now be appointed as the CDS, which technically makes scores of officers eligible for the top post.

As reported by ET, the government is examining records of close to 30 serving and retired officers as it moves towards appointing the next CDS, with fitness levels and medical history being a key-criteria in finalising the name.

The post of CDS has been lying vacant since the untimely demise of Gen. Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash last December.

The government, earlier today, had also announced the Agnipath recruitment scheme for India's armed forces including all the three wings - Army, Air Force and Navy.