19 Aug : The Army has changed the promotion policy for Major Generals and Lieutenant Generals by categorising them into staff and command streams in the backdrop of Ajai Vikram Singh Committee (AVSC) report.
The new policy envisaged giving senior officers from staff stream only administrative duties, while the command stream officers would get to head operational formations, Army sources said in New Delhi today.
The policy, they said, had come into effect from January one this year after Phase II of the AVSC report was implemented last year.
The AVSC report recommended creating new posts of 75 Major Generals and 20 Lieutenant Generals in the Army.
Under the new policy, senior rank officers would get promoted into two distinct staff and command posts, but would get no opportunity change streams while moving up the ladder.
Also, the promoted officer would be allotted a stream on a pro-rata basis keeping in view the availability of staff and command posts at any given point of time.
This, in effect, would mean that once a Major General was placed in staff stream, he would get no opportunity to command an operational formation of the Army.
“The new policy has been in discussion at the Army Commanders’ Conferences for the last two years and came into effect from January one this year,” sources said.
Asked if there was any opposition from senior ranks as the policy could deny opportunity for deserving officers, the Army headquarters vehemently denied any such dissent, be it oral or written, from any quarter.
As per the new policy, first mooted by General K Sundarji when he was army chief in late 1980s, a Major General, once selected into staff stream, would take up posts such as Chiefs of Staff of a Corps or a Command Headquarters, or head an Area Headquarters, which are all administrative posts.
On the other hand, a Major General from the Command stream would head operational formations such as a Division and once promoted as Lieutenant Generals, would command a Corps and get the opportunity to become Army Commanders and Vice Chief.
The Army currently has about 40 operational Divisions and six Commands – Udhampur-based Northern, Pune-based Southern, Kolkata-based Eastern, Chandimandir-based Western, Jaipur-based South-Western and Shimla-based Training Commands.
The policy was implemented first for 15 Major Generals, who were promoted to Lieutenant General rank in January this year.
The Army headquarters then sent the selected officers in two seperate lists of 10 for command stream and five for staff stream to the Defence Ministry for final clearance, sources said.
The existing system of promotion to senior ranks was based on a merit ranking system taking into account the annual confidential report (ACR), which included parameters such as courses attended, commands held, and awards received.
Army sources said 95 per cent marks were allotted on the basis of quantified assessment from ACR and the remaining five per cent was awarded by Army Commanders, who constitute the Promotion Board, on the basis their assessment of the candidate.
“The existing system of assessing the officers has not gone through changes. Army Commanders still hold the discretionary powers to identify promising officers and provide five percent of the marks, which is a value-based assessment,” sources added.
The Ajai Vikram Singh Committee, which went into issues of stagnation among officer cadre of the Army, Navy and Air Force, had recommended creation of new posts across all ranks thereby providing career mobility to young officers and keeping a young profile for troop commanders.
The committee report was implemented in two phases, the first phases in 2004 for officers from Captain to Colonel ranks and the phase two in December last year for officers from Brigadier to Lieutenant Generals ranks in the three services.