(Updated on 01st January, 2020)
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is both the head and also the highest ranking officer of the Indian Army. The post is held by four star bearer officer in the rank of General. Now that you know this, how about a simple question? (click the bar to see the answer)
The current Chief of Army Staff is General Manoj Mukund Naravane
The highest designation in the Indian Army is ‘Field Marshal’.
Appointment of the Chief of Army Staff is done by the President. The COAS reaches superannuation upon three years in the office or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
The head of the Indian army was earlier known as the “Commander-in-Chief”. During 1947–1955, 4 officers have served as Commander in Chief. See the table below for more details.
| Name | Rank | Appointment Date | Left Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Sir Robert McGregor Macdonald Lockhart | General | 15 August 1947 | 31 December 1947 |
| General Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher | General | 1 January 1948 | 15 January 1949 |
| Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa | Field Marshal | 16 January 1949 | 14 January 1953 |
| General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja | General | 15 January 1953 | 1 April 1955 |
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The office of the Chief of the Army Staff was created through The Commanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act of the Indian Parliament in 1955. COAS replaced the previously existing office of the Commander in Chief, Army.
Rajendrasinhji Jadeja, DSO was the first Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army. He was also the last Commander in Chief, Army.
I have provided the List of Chief of Army Staff of India in an easy to use table below. Please let me know in the comments below in case any thing is wrong or out of date.
| Name | Rank | Appointment Date | Left Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja | General | 4 January 1955 | 14 May 1955 |
| General Satyawant Mallannah Shrinagesh | General | 15 May 1955 | 7 May 1957 |
| General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya | General | 8 May 1957 | 7 May 1961 |
| General Pran Nath Thapar | General | 8 May 1961 | 19 November 1962 |
| General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri | General | 20 November 1962 | 7 June 1966 |
| General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam | General | 8 June 1966 | 7 June 1969 |
| Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw | Field Marshal | 8 June 1969 | 15 January 1973 |
| General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor | General | 16 January 1973 | 31 May 1975 |
| General Tapishwar Narain Raina | General | 1 June 1975 | 31 May 1978 |
| General Om Prakash Malhotra | General | 1 June 1978 | 31 May 1981 |
| General Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao | General | 1 June 1981 | 31 July 1983 |
| General Arun Shridhar Vaidya | General | 1 August 1983 | 31 January 1985 |
| General Krishnaswamy Sundarji | General | 1 February 1985 | 31 May 1988 |
| General Vishwa Nath Sharma | General | 1 June 1988 | 30 June 1990 |
| General Sunith Francis Rodrigues | General | 1 July 1990 | 30 June 1993 |
| General Bipin Chandra Joshi | General | 1 July 1993 | 19 November 1994 |
| General Shankar Roychowdhury | General | 20 November 1994 | 30 September 1997 |
| General Ved Prakash Malik | General | 1 October 1997 | 30 September 2000 |
| General Sundararajan Padmanabhan | General | 1 October 2000 | 30 December 2002 |
| General Nirmal Chander Vij | General | 31 December 2002 | 31 January 2005 |
| General Joginder Jaswant Singh | General | 31 January 2005 | 30 September 2007 |
| General Deepak Kapoor | General | 30 September 2007 | 31 March 2010 |
| General Vijay Kumar Singh | General | 31 March 2010 | 31 May 2012 |
| General Bikram Singh | General | 31 May 2012 | 31 July 2014 |
| General Dalbir Singh Suhag | General | 31 July 2014 | 31 December 2016 |
| General Bipin Rawat | General | 31 December 2016 | 31 December 2019 |
| General Manoj Mukund Naravane | General | 31 December 2019 | Current |
Field Marshal in the Indian Army
Field Marshal is the highest attainable rank in the Indian Army. Only two appointments have been made so far in the history of Indian Army. It is good to remember these two names (refer the table above). Field Marshals hold their rank for life, there is no retirement and they are considered as serving officers till their death.
Conclusion
I hope the complete list of the Chief of the Army Staff of India is useful to you. It is helpful to know the salient features especially when preparing for general knowledge or general awareness exams of exams like SSC CGL, bank exams, NDA, etc.
You may also like to take a look at the List of Naval Chiefs of India and List of Chief of the Air Staff Of India
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