No hasty decision on appointing new 4-star General: Defence Ministry

NEW DELHI: Defence Ministry today said no hasty decision will be taken on appointing a four-star officer for looking after tri-services matters and views of other political parties may even be taken on the issue.

The government will not take a hasty decision on the appointment of Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staffs Committee (COSC) as it is about bringing a major change in the structure of Armed Forces, Defence Ministry sources said here.

The issue still needs to be discussed extensively and has to be studied carefully before arriving at a conclusion, they said.

The Defence Ministry is already holding consultations with the political parties on appointing a five star Chief of Defence Staff, who would be seniormost officer in the Armed Forces and will act as the single-point contact between government and the services.

The suggestion for creating a CDS had come up during the NDA regime and the then government had decided to discuss the issue with all political parties before taking any final decision on the matter.

The final decision on the appointment of the Permanent Chairman of COSC has to be taken by the Cabinet Community on Security as part of the recommendations made by the Naresh Chandra Committee for bringing reforms in the higher defence management of the country.

According to the Naresh Chandra committee report, the permanent COSC is supposed to a four-star officer who would be dealing with the joint issues of the three services and on full-time basis, carry out the role of the present COSC.

Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi had stated that all the three services have agreed upon the need for creating the Permanent, Chairman of COSC as a "stop gap" arrangement till the time the government decides upon creating the post of CDS.