| Chief of Defence Staff | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
 Indian Armed Forces | |
| Type | Chief of defence |
| Status | Overall professional head of theIndian Armed Forces. |
| Abbreviation | CDS |
| Member of | |
| Reports to |  President of IndiaPrime Minister of IndiaMinister of Defence |
| Residence | Residence 3, Kamraj Ln, Meena Bagh, Krishna Manon Lane Area, New Delhi |
| Seat | Room No 104.Department of Military Affairs,Ministry of Defence,South Block, Secretariat Building, New Delhi |
| Appointer | Appointments Committee of the Cabinet President of India |
| Term length | No fixed duration, only from appointment till the age of 65.[1] |
| Formation | 1 January 2020; 6 years ago (2020-01-01) |
| First holder | GeneralBipin Rawat PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, ADC |
| Deputy |  Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (CISC) |
| Salary | ₹250,000 (US$3,000) monthly[2][3] |
| Website | Official website |
TheChief of Defence Staff (CDS) is theprincipal military authority andsenior-most appointment of theIndian Armed Forces.[4] Deemed the overall professional head of India’s three armed services, namely, theIndian Army, theIndian Navy and theIndian Air Force, the CDS is the highest-ranking military officer in service, responsible for overseeinginter-service jointness across all disciplines related to military functioning.[5] Primarily, the office operates on a status ofprimus inter pares i.e.,first among equals with the chiefs of the three services, and functions as the Permanent-Chairman of theChiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) – the inter-service syndicate responsible for ensuring the establishment and preservation of military integration.[6]
Statutorily, the CDS is theSecretary to the Government of India of theDepartment of Military Affairs, thecivil-cum-military entity responsible for fostering professional coordination between the services, and by extension, is also the principal military advisor to the nation’scivilian leadership i.e., theMinistry of Defence on affairs privy to inter-service integration; as such, the office exists primarily as an advisor and adjudicator position, endowed with no operational command control.[7]
Since its formal creation in 2020, the CDS has been officiated on a rotational basis byfour-star officers nominated from any of the three services.[6] Domestically, the office ranks 12th-overall in theIndian order of precedence, and is the status-equivalent of theChief of the Army Staff, theChief of the Naval Staff and theChief of the Air Staff; internationally, it is identical to theUnited Kingdom'sChief of the Defence Staff with similar functions toPakistan'sChief of Defence Forces.[8][9]
As the principal military authority of the Indian Armed Forces, the CDS bears responsibility for overseeing two distinct bodies, namely, theChiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) and theDepartment of Military Affairs (DMA).[10]
The COSC is an inter-service syndicate of the armed forces, which functions as a principal advisory body dealing with matters related to inter-service coordination, policy formulation, and strategy development. It comprises the chiefs of the three armed services, in addition to the CDS, who acts as itsPermanent Chairman, responsible for the following duties:[10]
The DMA is one of the five departments within the Ministry of Defence, which functions as a joint civilian-cum-military syndicate tasked with overseeing administrative duties related to the headquarters of the three armed services, theIntegrated Defence Staff (IDS) plus theTerritorial Army, and procurement initiatives except for capital acquisitions.[12] Herein, the CDS acts as the department'sex-officio Secretary, responsible for the following duties:[10]
Although the CDS is recognized as the principal authority in the armed forces, the office has been noted to have several ambiguities as to its perceived powers and roles:
The office of CDS has customarily been held by afour-star officer from the three-armed services, specifically, either ageneral,admiral, orair chief marshal.[6][15] The appointment of the CDS is initiated byMinistry of Defence, wherein the résumés of candidates recommended by the armed services are submitted for review, before being sent to theAppointments Committee of the Cabinet.[16]
At the time of the office's creation, no fixed structure for anorder of succession existed; thus, in the formative period of the office's existence, the senior-most service chief was recommended for appointment; the first instance of this was GeneralBipin Rawat, the then Chief of the Army Staff and senior-most amongst the three service chiefs.[16][17] However, Rawat'sunexpected death in 2021 whilst in tenure exposed this flaw and left the office vacant for nine months before a successor. Accordingly, in June 2022, the Ministry of Defence established a permanent set of appointment-cum-succession rules, stating that four-star and three-star officers from the armed services, notwithstanding their status of being active or retired, would be deemed eligible candidates to be appointed, provided they hadn't attained the age of 62 at the time of appointment.[18]
As of 2022, the appointment regulations for CDS, whilst the same for the three services, are classified distinctively, namely:
The first time the regulations were actively exercised was in the appointment of Lieutenant GeneralAnil Chauhan in September 2022; Chauhan, who had retired in May 2021, was recalled to service and promoted to general.[19][20]
Under an initial set of regulations established by the Ministry of Defence in December 2019,[21] the service chiefs from the three services, namely, theChief of the Army Staff, theChief of the Naval Staff and theChief of the Air Staff, having completed their mandated three-year tenure or having attained the age of 62, were deemed eligible to be appointed CDS, with the chosen designate tenuring the office to the maximum deemed age of 65; unlike the service chiefs, the CDS has no fixed tenure, but only an upper age limit.[21] The aforementioned 2022 regulations expanded the office's reach, allowing both active and retired officers to occupy the office until the age of 65.[18]
Previously, in the event of an abrupt stoppage during the incumbent's tenure - by termination, resignation or sudden demise, the senior-most service chief was made acting-COSC and by extension, anex officio-CDS until a suitable successor was appointed; this situation has occurred only once, when GeneralManoj Mukund Naravane, then-Chief of the Army Staff, was made acting-COSC upon the death of General Rawat, the then-incumbent CDS.[22]
The office of CDS maintains a separatecommand flag, regardless of the incumbent appointee's parent service, symbolizing the independence of the position and its associated authority from the armed services.[23] The flag comprising amaroon field - representing the inter-service jointness, furnished with theNational Flag of India in the canton and theinter-service insignia of the Indian Armed Forces - comprisingtwin-crossed swords, anunfouled anchor and aneagle surrounded by anoak wreath in gold-furnishing.[24] Similar to that of the service chiefs, this particular command flag is preferably displayed on the CDS's official car and at his office.[25]
Whilst the CDS is a rotational appointment held by officers drawn from the three armed services, the CDS is an independent entity, thus mandating a distinct set of accoutrements.[26] Notably, the CDS uniform allows the appointee to retain certain paraphernalia, such as the uniform of the appointee's parent service and its associateddecorations; nonetheless, it lacks alanyard, unlike the uniforms of the service chiefs.[24] In addition, the office's uniform has several distinct emendations, the primary of which are undermentioned:[24]
| Item | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Epaulette |  | Maroon shoulder epaulette attached with theState Emblem of India atop the inter-service insignia of the Indian Armed Forces surrounded by anoak wreath, in gold-furnishing.[26] |
| Service cap |  | Peak cap of the appointee's parent service, with an additional maroon band attached with the inter-service insignia surrounded by an oak wreath, in gold-furnishing.[24] |
| Belt buckle |  | Silver buckle designed with the inter-service insignia surrounded by an oak wreath, in gold-furnishing.[26] |
| Button |  | Gold-colored button furnished solely with inter-service insignia.[26] |
† - Died in office
* -Veteran recalled to active service
| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) | Term of office | Service branch | Preceding office | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||
| 1 |  | Rawat, BipinGeneral Bipin Rawat PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, ADC (1958–2021) | 1 January 2020 | 8 December 2021 † | 1 year, 341 days |  Indian Army | Chief of the Army Staff (31 December 2016 – 31 December 2019) | [27][28] |
| Vacant (9 December 2021–29 September 2022) | ||||||||
| 2 | .jpg) | Chauhan, AnilGeneral Anil Chauhan PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (born 1961*) | 30 September 2022* | Incumbent | 3 years, 137 days | Indian Army | General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command (1 September 2019 – 31 May 2021) | [29][30] |
| Number of CDS by branches of service | |
| Branch | Count |
|---|---|
| Indian Army | 2 |
 Indian Navy | 0 |
 Indian Air Force | 0 |
Media related toChief of Defence Staff (India) at Wikimedia Commons| Leadership | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organisation |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Personnel |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Equipment |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Operations |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Auxiliary forces | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other topics | |||||||||||||||||||
