Chief of the Naval Staff
Flag of the Chief of the Naval Staff
Incumbent AdmiralDinesh Kumar Tripathi PVSM, AVSM, NM since 30 April 2024
Indian Navy
Status	Professional head of naval branch of theIndian Armed Forces.
Abbreviation	CNS
Member of	National Security Council Defence Planning Committee Defence Acquisition Council
Reports to	President of India Prime Minister of India Minister of Defence Chief of Defence Staff
Residence	Navy House, Bungalow Number 12, Rajaji Marg,New Delhi
Seat	Integrated HQ of MoD (Navy),South Block, Central Secretariat, New Delhi
Appointer	Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) President of India
Term length	3 years or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
Constituting instrument	Navy Act, 1957 (Act No. 62 of 1957)
Precursor	Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy
Formation	26 January 1950; 76 years ago (1950-01-26)
First holder	Vice-AdmiralEdward Parry
Deputy	Vice Chief of the Naval Staff
Salary	₹250,000 (US$3,000) monthly[1][2]

TheChief of the Naval Staff (CNS) is a statutory office held by the professional head of theIndian Navy (IN), thenavalbranch of theIndian Armed Forces.^[3] Customarily held by afour-staradmiral, the CNS is the senior-most operational officer of the IN, tasked with the roles of overseeing the force's overall functioning during states of peace and conflict, along with the realization of India's strategic maritime objectives, namely, the defence of the country's sovereignty against maritime threats and the security ofinternational sea lines in theIndo-Pacific.^[4]

Being a permanent member of theChiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) and theNational Security Council (NSC), the CNS also bears the responsibility of advising the nation'scivilian leadership i.e., theGovernment of India on all matters privy to the IN.^[5]

Statutorily, the CNS ranks 12th-overall in theIndian order of precedence, and is the IN's status-equivalent of theChief of Defence Staff, theChief of the Army Staff and theChief of the Air Staff - all three positions of which are also occupied by four-star officers from the armed forces.^[6]

Seated atIntegrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Navy) (IHQ of MoD (Navy)), stationed inNew Delhi, the CNS is the senior-most operational officer of the IN, and is tasked with the following:

• Advising theCentral Government on all matters privy to the IN.^[5]
• Commitment to enhancing the force's capabilities towards sustaining combat readiness and operational effectiveness during periods of peace and conflict.^[7]
• Coordinating various components of the IN towards the protection-cum-realization of the nation's maritime sovereignty during states of armed conflict or war.^[8]
• Providing direction towards the overall functioning of the organization's facets, such as command, control, administration and strategy.^[9]
• Conveningcourts-martial at the behest of theCentral Government to review cases of misconduct during peace and wartime.^[10]
• Reviewing the judicial sentencing and pleas of officers convicted of professional misconduct whilst in service.^[10]

In addition to these responsibilities, the CAS is also a permanent member of:

• Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)
• National Security Council (NSC)
• Defence Planning Committee (DPC)
• Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)

The office's eminence in the aforementioned groups thus grants the appointee with the role to advise theMinister of Defence (Raksha Mantri or RM) on the affairs related to the IN's functioning and the promotion of an comprehensive integrated planning policy with respect to the affairs of tri-service integration, doctrinal strategy, capability development, defence acquisition and infrastructure.^[11][12]

As the professional head of the force, the CNS is assisted by one subordinate officer and threeprincipal staff officers, namely:

• Subordinate:
  • Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS)
• Principal Staff Officers:^[13]
  • Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS)^[13]
  • Chief of Materiel (COM)^[13]
  • Chief of Personnel (COP)^[13]

Initially, beginning in the pre-independence era, until 1968, the office of CNS was held by athree-star vice admiral.^[14] However, the office's rank-specifications was raised to thefour-star rank ofadmiral when then-CNS Vice AdmiralAdhar Kumar Chatterji was promoted in March 1968; every CNS-appointee since then has been an admiral.^[14]

The move to appoint a new designate to the position usually begins several months before the change-of-command, wherein theMinistry of Defence (MoD) reviews the résumés of the IN's senior-most vice admirals, which regularly includes theVice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS), the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chiefs (FOC-in-C) of the force's three combatant commands and the Commander-in-Chiefs (C-in-C) of India's twointegrated military commands.^[15]

Appointments to the position are made by theAppointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) - comprising thePrime Minister and theMinister of Defence, upon recommendation from IHQ of MoD (Navy), whereupon the designated appointee is subsequently promoted to the rank of admiral.^[16]

According toPart III of the IN'sRegulations for the Navy, 1991 - a CNS-appointee reachessuperannuation upon the completion of three years in the position or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.^[17] However, an appointee may also be dismissed from office by thePresident of India before the conclusion of the tenure under the Section 15(1) of theNavy Act, 1957 and Article 310 of theConstitution.^[18] This provision was used by then-PresidentK. R. Narayanan to dismiss then-CNS AdmiralVishnu Bhagwat from service in December 1998.^[19]

Between 1950 and 1990, the senior-most vice admirals in the IN's command cadre have customarily been appointed as CNS, even under the event of an abrupt stoppage during the incumbent's tenure - by termination or resignation; however, this tradition has since been broken thrice: first in 1990, when then CNS-designate Vice AdmiralLaxminarayan Ramdas superseded one senior officer, and again in 2014 and 2016, when then-Vice AdmiralsRobin K. Dhowan andKarambir Singh were appointed to the office superseding one senior officer, respectively.^[20][21]

Additionally, a CNS-appointee is also eligible to be selected for the position ofChief of Defence Staff (CDS), in accordance with theNaval Ceremonial, Conditions of Service and Miscellaneous (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 - which prescribes that the designated nominee, in this case the CNS, must be under the age of 62 at the time of appointment as CDS; as of 2024, no CNS-appointee has ever been appointed as CDS.^[22][23] Although the office of CDS was originally created in 2019, the MoD had originally planned for it to be created in 2001 with then-CNS AdmiralSushil Kumar as its first appointee; however, the plan failed to materialize overinterservice rivalry and Kumar never became the CDS.^[24][25]

Following independence and thesubsequent partition of the subcontinent, the RIN was bifurcated into two new entities: the successorRoyal Indian Navy (RIN) - responsible for theDominion of India, and the newly-formedRoyal Pakistan Navy (RPN) - responsible for theDominion of Pakistan. At the time, the RIN's commanding officer was designated theCommander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy."^[26] On 21 June 1948, the title of "Chief of the Naval Staff" was added,^[27] On 21 June 1948, the officer was re-designated asChief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy (CNS/C-in-C, RIN) - as a measure to reflect uniformity with the C-in-Cs of the post-independenceIndian Army and theRoyal Indian Air Force.^[28]

Upon India'sestablishment as a republic on 26 January 1950, the RIN was rechristened as the Indian Navy (IN), dropping theRoyal-prefix; subsequently, the position's designation was again modified toChief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy (CNS/C-in-C, IN).^[29]

In 1955, the designation of the office was shortened to simply toChief of the Naval Staff (CNS) through theCommanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act, 1955; as a result of the Act, the tenure of the then-serving C-in-C - AdmiralSir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey, continued under the new designation.^[30] Between 1950 and 1958, the office was officiated by flag officers seconded from theRN, which ceased with the appointment of Vice AdmiralRam Dass Katari in April 1958 - which thus made him the first Indian officer to be promoted to the rank, and subsequently, the first Indian-origin chief of the IN.^[31][32][29] Ten years later, in March 1968, the rank-specifications for the office was raised to the rank of admiral, with the promotion of then-CNS Vice AdmiralAdhar Kumar Chatterji.^[14]

In December 1998, AdmiralVishnu Bhagwat, the then-incumbent CNS andChairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (Chairman COSC), was abruptly dismissed from office, which made him the only CNS-appointee - and the only-ever military chief in the Indian Armed Forces to be relieved from service to date.^[33][19]

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1		Hall, John Talbot SavignacRear Admiral John Talbot Savignac HallCIE (1896–1964)	15 August 1947	20 June 1948	310 days	[34][35]

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1		Hall, John Talbot SavignacRear Admiral John Talbot Savignac HallCIE (1896–1964)	21 June 1948	14 August 1948	54 days	[34][27]
2		Parry, William EdwardVice Admiral SirWilliam Edward ParryKCB (1893–1972)	14 August 1948	25 January 1950	1 year, 164 days	.

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office
2		Parry, William EdwardVice-Admiral Sir William Edward ParryKCB[36] (1893–1972)	26 January 1950	13 October 1951	1 year, 260 days
3		Pizey, Charles Thomas MarkAdmiral Sir Charles Thomas Mark PizeyKBE, CB, DSO &Bar (1899–1993)	13 October 1951	31 March 1955	3 years, 169 days

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Pizey, CharlesAdmiral Sir Charles Thomas Mark PizeyKBE, CB, DSO &Bar (1899–1993)	1 April 1955	21 July 1955	111 days
2		Carlill, Stephen HopeVice-Admiral Sir Stephen Hope CarlillKBE, CB, DSO &Bar (1902–1996)	21 July 1955	21 April 1958	2 years, 274 days
3		Katari, Ram DassVice-Admiral Ram Dass Katari (1911–1983)	22 April 1958	4 June 1962	4 years, 43 days
4		Soman, Bhaskar SadashivVice-Admiral Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman (1913–1995)	4 June 1962	3 March 1966	3 years, 272 days
5		Chatterji, Adhar KumarAdmiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji (1914–2001)	3 March 1966	28 February 1970	3 years, 362 days
6		Nanda, Sardarilal MathradasAdmiral Sardarilal Mathradas NandaPVSM, AVSM (1915–2009)	28 February 1970	28 February 1973	3 years
7		Kohli, Sourendra NathAdmiral Sourendra Nath KohliPVSM (1916–1997)	1 March 1973	29 February 1976	2 years, 365 days
8		Cursetji, JalAdmiral Jal CursetjiPVSM (1919–1991)	1 March 1976	1 March 1979	3 years
9		Pereira, Ronald LynsdaleAdmiral Ronald Lynsdale PereiraPVSM, AVSM (1923–1993)	1 March 1979	28 February 1982	2 years, 364 days
10		Dawson, Oscar StanleyAdmiral Oscar Stanley DawsonPVSM, AVSM, ADC (1923–2011)	1 March 1982	30 November 1984	2 years, 274 days
11		Tahiliani, Radhakrishna HariramAdmiral Radhakrishna Hariram TahilianiPVSM, AVSM (1930–2015)	1 December 1984	30 November 1987	2 years, 364 days
12		Nadkarni, Jayant GanpatAdmiral Jayant Ganpat NadkarniPVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM, ADC (1931–2018)	1 December 1987	30 November 1990	2 years, 364 days
13		Ramdas, LaxminarayanAdmiral Laxminarayan RamdasPVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC (1933–2024)	1 December 1990	30 September 1993	2 years, 303 days
14		Shekhawat, Vijai SinghAdmiral Vijai Singh ShekhawatPVSM, AVSM, VrC, ADC (born 1936[37])	1 October 1993	30 September 1996	2 years, 365 days
15		Bhagwat, VishnuAdmiral Vishnu BhagwatPVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1939[38])	1 October 1996	30 December 1998	2 years, 90 days
16		Kumar, SushilAdmiral Sushil KumarPVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM, ADC (1940–2019[39])	30 December 1998	29 December 2001	2 years, 364 days
17		Singh, MadhvendraAdmiral Madhvendra SinghPVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1942[40])	29 December 2001	31 July 2004	2 years, 215 days
18		Prakash, ArunAdmiral Arun PrakashPVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC (born 1944)	31 July 2004	31 October 2006	2 years, 215 days
19		Mehta, SureeshAdmiral Sureesh MehtaPVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1947)	31 October 2006	31 August 2009	2 years, 304 days
20		Verma, Nirmal KumarAdmiral Nirmal Kumar VermaPVSM, AVSM (born 1950)	31 August 2009	31 August 2012	3 years
21		Joshi, Devendra KumarAdmiral Devendra Kumar JoshiPVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM, ADC (born 1954)	31 August 2012	26 February 2014	1 year, 179 days
–		Dhowan, RobinVice Admiral Robin K. DhowanPVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC (born 1954) Acting	26 February 2014	17 April 2014	50 days
22		Dhowan, RobinAdmiral Robin K. DhowanPVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC (born 1954)	17 April 2014	31 May 2016	2 years, 44 days
23		Lanba, SunilAdmiral Sunil LanbaPVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1957)	31 May 2016	31 May 2019	3 years
24		Admiral Karambir SinghPVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1959) [41]	31 May 2019	30 November 2021	2 years, 183 days
25		Admiral R. Hari KumarPVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC (born 1962) [42]	30 November 2021	30 April 2024	2 years, 152 days
26		Admiral Dinesh Kumar TripathiPVSM, AVSM, NM (born 1964) [43]	30 April 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 291 days

• Chief of Defence Staff
• Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee
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• Chief of the Army Staff
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• Royal Indian Navy Commanders
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