Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (India)

The Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) is the second-highest ranking Officer in the Indian Navy.[1][2] The VCNS is a PSO (Principal Staff Officer) at Naval Headquarters in New Delhi.[3] The office is held by a Three Star Officer in the rank of Vice Admiral. He is responsible for operation of naval related tasks. The current VCNS is Vice Admiral G. Ashok Kumar who took over from Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar on 30 January 2019.[4]

Vice Chief of the Naval Staff
Flag of the Vice Admiral
Incumbent
G. Ashok Kumar
since 30 January 2019
 Indian Navy
TypePrincipal Staff Officer
AbbreviationVCNS
Reports toChief of the Naval Staff
SeatNaval Headquarters, New Delhi
Formation11 May 1967
First holderSourendra Nath Kohli
Salary₹225,000

History

Established on 11 May 1967, the office was first held by Sourendra Nath Kohli, subsequently appointed CNS. The appointment was then in the two-star rank of rear admiral.[2] On 12 December 1967, Nilakanta Krishnan succeeded Kohli as VCNS, with the office being raised to the three-star rank of Vice-Admiral in March 1969.[5]

Organisation

The VCNS heads the Staff Branch-I at the Naval Headquarters. The following Directors General/Controllers/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the VCNS.[6]

  • Chief Hydrographer
  • Inspector General Nuclear Safety (IGNS)
  • Controller Warship Production & Acquisition (CWP&A)
  • Director General Project Seabird
  • Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy & Plans)
  • Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Staff Requirements)
  • Principal Director Naval Plans (PDNP)
  • Integrated Financial Advisor (Navy)
  • Director General of Naval Armament (DGONA)
  • Director General Naval Armament Inspectorate (DGNAI)

Order of Precedence

The VCNS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C).[7] The VCNS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).[8]

Appointees

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.

No Rank Name Appointment date Left office Decorations References
1 Rear Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli** 11 May 1967 11 December 1967 [2]
2 Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan 12 December 1967[note 1] 20 February 1970 PVSM, DSC [9][10]
3 Jal Cursetji** 20 February 1970 26 February 1973 PVSM [11]
4 V. A. Kamath 31 March 1973 31 March 1977 PVSM [12]
5 Ronald Lynsdale Pereira** 5 April 1977 28 February 1979 AVSM [13]
6 Swaraj Parkash 1 March 1979 31 March 1980 PVSM, MVC, AVSM [14]
7 M. R. Schunker 1 April 1980 1 March 1982 [15]
8 Sardari Lal Sethi 1 March 1982 30 May 1983 AVSM, NM [16][17]
9 Subimal Mookerjee 31 May 1983 29 April 1984 AVSM [18]
10 Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani** 2 May 1984 27 November 1984 PVSM, AVSM [19]
11 K. K. Nayyar 28 November 1984 28 February 1986 PVSM, AVSM [20]
12 Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni** 28 February 1986 30 November 1987 PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM [21][22]
13 Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani 8 December 1987 28 February 1989 PVSM, AVSM, NM [23]
14 S. C. Chopra 28 February 1989 30 June 1990 PVSM, AVSM, NM [24]
15 H. Johnson 30 June 1990 31 December 1990 PVSM, VSM [25][26]
16 Suren P. Govil 31 December 1990 31 October 1992 PVSM, AVSM [27]
17 Vijai Singh Shekhawat** 31 October 1992 30 September 1993 PVSM, AVSM, VrC, ADC [28]
18 S. K. Chand 15 October 1993 30 November 1995 PVSM, AVSM, ADC [29]
19 Kailash K. Kohli 30 November 1995 19 October 1996 AVSM [30]
20 Sushil Kumar** 19 October 1996 31 March 1998 PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM [31]
21 P. J. Jacob 31 March 1998 28 February 2001 AVSM, VSM [32]
22 Madhvendra Singh** 1 March 2001 1 January 2002 PVSM, AVSM, ADC [32]
23 John Colin De Silva 1 January 2002 30 September 2003 PVSM, AVSM, ADC [33]
24 Arun Prakash** 17 October 2003 30 July 2004 PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC [34]
25 Yashwant Prasad 30 July 2004 31 October 2005 PVSM, AVSM, VSM [35]
26 Venkat Bharathan 31 October 2005 30 November 2006 PVSM, AVSM, VSM [36]
27 Nirmal Kumar Verma** 30 November 2006 1 April 2008 PVSM, AVSM [37]
28 R. P. Suthan 30 April 2008 30 July 2009 [38]
29 D. K. Dewan 1 September 2009 30 August 2011 [39]
30 Robin K. Dhowan** 31 August 2011 16 April 2014 PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC [40][41]
31 Sunil Lanba** 2 June 2014 30 March 2015 PVSM, AVSM, ADC [42][43]
32 Parasurama Naidu Murugesan 31 March 2015 30 May 2016 AVSM, VSM [44][45]
33 Karambir Singh** 31 May 2016 30 October 2017 PVSM, AVSM [46]
34 Ajit Kumar P 30 October 2017 30 January 2019 PVSM, AVSM, VSM [47]
35 G. Ashok Kumar 30 January 2019 Incumbent AVSM, VSM [48]

See also

Notes
  1. Appointed as rear admiral, appointment raised to the rank of vice-admiral 26 March 1969.

** Went on to become Chief of the Naval Staff.

References
  1. Nanda, S M. The man who bombed Karachi : a memoir. HarperCollins Publishers India. p. 113. ISBN 978-8172235628.
  2. "Admiral Kohli First Naval Vice-Chief" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 11 May 1967. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  3. "Principal Staff Officers | Indian Navy". www.indiannavy.nic.in.
  4. "Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, AVSM, VSM assumes charge as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff". pib.nic.in.
  5. "Rear Admiral Krishnan Promoted Vice-Admiral" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 27 March 1969. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  6. "Staff Branch-I | Indian Navy". www.indiannavy.nic.in.
  7. "President's Secretariat" (PDF). Office of the President of India. Rajya Sabha. 26 August 1979. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  8. "Wayback Machine" (PDF). web.archive.org. 20 November 2015.
  9. "New Naval Appointments" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 20 February 1970. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  10. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 3 May 1969. p. 440.
  11. "Admiral Cursetji to Head Western Naval Command" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 14 February 1973. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  12. "Admiral Kamath to be Naval Vice Chief" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 21 March 1973. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  13. "Admiral Pereira Takes Over as Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 5 April 1977. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  14. "Vice Admiral Swaraj Parkash To Take Over as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 22 February 1979. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  15. "Vice Admiral Schunker Takes Over as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 1 April 1980. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  16. "Admiral Sethi Appointed Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 25 February 1982. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  17. "Senior Naval Appointments From March 1, 1982" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 4 February 1982. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  18. "Admiral Mookerjee Appointed Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 30 May 1983. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  19. "Vice Admiral Tahiliani New Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 1 May 1984. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  20. "Vice Admiral Nayyar New Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 27 November 1984. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  21. "Vice Admiral Nadkarni New Vice Chief of Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 27 February 1986. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  22. "Admiral Nadkarni to Take Over as New Naval Chief" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 29 November 1987. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  23. "Vice Chief of Navy Takes Over" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 8 December 1987. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  24. "New Vice Chief Takes Over" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 28 February 1989. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  25. "New Vice Chief For Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 13 June 1990. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  26. "New Vice Chief, Flag Officer Commanders-in-Chief and Deputy Chief For Indian Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 28 December 1990. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  27. "Vice Admiral Govil Retires" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 30 October 1992. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  28. "Change of Guard at Naval Headquarters" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 31 October 1992. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  29. "Vice Admiral SK Chand PVSM AVSM ADC - Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Retires Today" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 30 November 1995. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  30. "Admiral Kohli Appointed As New Vice Chief of Indian Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 23 November 1995. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  31. "Navy Vice Chief Appointed" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 19 October 1996. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  32. "Major shake up in naval command structure". Rediff.com. 1 March 2001. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  33. "VICE ADMIRAL JOHN C DESILVA, PVSM, AVSM, ADC VICE CHIEF OF THE NAVAL STAFF RETIRES". pibarchive.nic.in.
  34. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  35. Competition Science Vision. Agra: Pratiyogita Darpan. 2004. p. 854.
  36. "Senior Naval Appointments Announced". Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 23 August 2005. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  37. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  38. "New Vice Admiral R P Suthan".
  39. "Vice Admiral Dewan takes over a Vice Chief of Naval Staff | Brahmand News". brahmand.com. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  40. "Vice Admiral Sunil Lamba may be the next navy Vice-chief". deccanchronicle.com/. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  41. "Vice Admiral Dhowan To Take Over As Vice Chief Of Navy". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  42. "Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba appointed new Vice Chief of Naval Staff". Firstpost. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  43. "Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba takes over as VCNS | Indian Navy". www.indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  44. "Indian Navy aspires to achieve 90% self-reliance in production of warships, says Vice Admiral Murugesan | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  45. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  46. "Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, AVSM assumes charge as Vice Chief of Naval Staff | Indian Navy". www.indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  47. "Press Information Bureau". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  48. "Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar assumes charge as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff". Zee News. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
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