Lt Gen Seth to be new Vice Chief of Army
Ex GOC 16 Corps to be Southern Army Comdr
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 6: Army vice chief Lt Gen PP Singh is likely to take over as the Western Army Commander from April 1 this year in place of Lt Gen Manoj Kumar Katiyar who will be hanging his boots on March 31 after distinguished career.
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Headquartered at Chandimandir in Chandigarh, the Western Command controls Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts in the Jammu region besides vast area of Punjab including Pathankot falling along the International Border with Pakistan.
Considered as the Army’s most critical operational formations, the Western Command oversees the Pakistan front and played crucial role during Operation Sindoor along with Northern Command and other formations.
An officer of the elite Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), Lt Gen P P Singh will be among the few Special Forces officers to head an Army Command.
Lt Gen Sandeep Jain, who earlier served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Nagrota-based 16 Corps and is currently the Chief of Staff at Southern Command, is expected to be elevated to take over as the Southern Army Commander in Pune.
He will replace Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth, who is likely to move to Army Headquarters as the Vice Chief of Army Staff when he moves to Army Headquarters.
Lt Gen Jain earlier commanded the Ambala-based II Corps, also known as the Kharga Corps, one of the Army’s key strike formations on the western front.
Prior to taking charge of Southern Command in July 2024, Lt Gen Seth commanded the Mathura-based XXI Strike Corps, one of the Army’s key strike formations. He is an Armoured Corps officer commissioned in December 1986 and has held several Command and Staff appointments during his career.
Meanwhile, Lt Gen V.M.B. Krishnan, currently serving as the Army’s Quartermaster General at Army Headquarters is likely to take over as the Eastern Army Commander from April 10. The Kolkata-based command oversees operations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in the eastern sector, as well as the borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Lt Gen Krishnan will succeed Lt Gen Ram Chander Tiwari, who has headed the Eastern Command since January 2024 and will retire later this month.
An officer of the Dogra Regiment, Lt Gen Krishnan earlier commanded the strategically important XVII Corps, the Army’s mountain strike formation raised for operations along the China front. He has also served as Director General of Information Technology at Army Headquarters.
The major reshuffle among the Army Commanders will be effective from April 1, the sources said.
They added that a couple of GOCs in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are unlikely to be touched in the reshuffle as the Government of India has made it clear that the Operation Sindoor is still on.
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