M A I N   N E W S

Padmanabhan takes over as Army chief today
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 29 — Lt-Gen S. Padmanabhan will take over as the Chief of Army Staff from Gen V.P. Malik tomorrow. He will be the fourth artillery officer to occupy the Indian Army’s highest office.

General Padmanabhan, who has held many prestigious command, staff and instructional positions, including Director-General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) and GOC 15 Corps, in Srinagar where he successfully handled the Hazratbal crisis in 1993, will take over the charge as the 20th Army chief at 12.15 p.m. at the Army Headquarters here tomorrow.

The three previous artillery officers to make it as Army chief were Gen P.P. Kumaramangalam, Gen O.P. Malhotra and Gen S.F. Rodrigues.

General Padmanabhan, who will turn 60 in December, has been GOC-in-C, Southern command, at Pune since January 3, 1999.

An alumnus of the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehra Dun and National Defence Academy, his first command was that of the famous Gazala Mountain Regiment, a very old and battle-tested unit of the artillery.

He had the unique distinction of having commanded an artillery brigade and two infantry brigades in vastly diverse areas and terrain between July, 1985, and February, 1991.

A graduate from the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and the National Defence College, Delhi, General Padmanabhan took over a frontline infantry division in the Western sector and 15 Corps, GOC, in the Kashmir valley.

Gen Sekhar retires

NEW DELHI, Sept 29 (PTI)— The Vice-Chief of the Army Staff, Lt-Gen Chandra Sekhar, was given a ceremonial farewell at the Army headquarters here on retirement after serving 41 years in the Army. A highly decorated officer, General Sekhar was commissioned in the Gorkha Rifles in 1959 and held a range of appointments in the field, command and staff.