Chief Of Army Staff :- Highest Rank of the Indian Army

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is the highest ranking officer of the Indian Army. He is also the head of the Indian Army headquarters. He is also the principal advisor to the Ministry of Defence and also the key military advisor of the President of India, the supreme commander of the forces of India.

The current Chief Of Army Staff is General Manoj Pande. 

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History

It was established in 1748 as the Commander-in-chief, India to command all the forces in India.After the war of 1857, the Commander in Chief became the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander in Chief was also in close contact with the Viceroy of India.

After the partition of India in 1947, the post was divided into :- Commander in Chief of Indian Army, Commander in Chief of Pakistan Army and the Commander in Chief of British forces in India and Pakistan.  

The designation was changed to “Chief of Army Staff” after the Commander in Chief Act of 1955. The office is based at South Block of the Central Secretariat at Raisina Hill, New Delhi.

The appointments to the office are made by the Appointments Committee of The Cabinet. They can serve the country for three years or till the age of 62, whichever comes earlier. 

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Here’s the list of Commander in Chief, Indian Army :-

Name	Took Office	Left Office	Time in Office
General Sir Robert Mcgregor Macdonald Lockhart	15 August 1947	31 December 1947	108 Days
General Francis Robert Roy Bucher	01 January 1948	20 June 1948	171 Days.

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Here’s the List of Chief Of Army Staff and Commander-in Chief, Indian Army :-

Name	Took Office	Left Office	Time in Office
General Francis Robert Roy Bucher	21 June 1948	15 January 1949	208 Days
General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa	15 January 1949	14 January 1953	3 Years and 365 days
General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinjhi Jadeja	14 January 1953	1 April 1955	2 Years and 77 Days

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Here’s the list of Chief Of Army Staff :-

Name	Took Office	Left Office	Time in Office
General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinjhi Jadeja	01 April 1955	14 May 1955	43 Days
General Satyawant Mallana Srinagesh	15 May 1955	7 May 1957	1 Year and 357 Days
General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya	8 May 1957	7 May 1961	4 Years
General Pran Nath Thapar	8 May 1961	19 November 1962	1 Year and 195 Days
General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri	20 November 1962	7 June 1966	3 Years and 199 Days
General Paramsiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam	8 June 1966	7 June 1969	2 Years and 364 Days
Fiels Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw	8 June 1969	15 January 1973	3 Years and 221 Days
General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor	16 January 1973	31 May 1975	2 Years and 135 Days
General Tapishwar Narain Raina	1 June 1975	31 May 1978	2 Years 364 Days
General Om Prakash Malhotra	1 June 1978	31 May 1981	2 Years and 364 Days
General Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao	1 June 1981	31 July 1983	1 Year and 364 Days
General Arunkumar Sridhar Vaidya	1 August 1983	31 January 1986	2 Years and 244 Days
General Krishnaswamy Sundarji	1 February 1986	31 May 1988	2 Years and 120 Days
General Vishwa Nath Sharma	1 June 1988	30 June 1990	2 Years and 29 Days
General Sunith Francis Rodrigues	1 July 1990	30 June 1993	2 Years and 364 Days
General Bipin Chandra Joshi	1 July 1993	19 November 1994	1 Year and 141 Days
General Shankar Roy Chowdhary	20 November 1994	30 September 1997	2 Years and 314 Days
General Ved Prakash Malik	1 October 1997	30 September 2000	2 Years and 365 Days
General Sundararanjan Padmanabhan	1 October 2000	31 December 2002	2 Years and 91 Days
General Nirmal Chander Vij	1 January 2003	31 January 2005	2 Years and 30 Days
General Joginder Jaswant Singh	1 February 2005	30 September 2007	2 Years and 241 Days
General Deepak Kapoor	1 October 2007	31 March 2010	2 Years and 181 Days
General Vijay Kumar Singh	1 April 2010	31 May 2012	2 Years and 60 Days
General Bikram Singh	1 June 2012	31 July 2014	2 Years and 60 Days
General Dalbir Singh Suhag	1 August 2014	31 December 2016	2 Years and 152 Days
General Bipin Rawat	31 December 2016	31 December 2019	3 Years
General Manoj Mukund Narvane	31 December 2019	30 April 2022	2 Years and 120 Days
General Manoj Pande	30 April 2022	on going