Antony writes to NSA, political parties seeking advise on CDS
22 Jun 2013 5:50 AM IST
According to agency reports, quoting senior defence ministry officials, the minister has recently written to political parties to get their views on the issue. Creation of the post of the chief of defence staff or a permanent chairman, chiefs of staff committee is being considered as per the recommendations of the Naresh Chandra panel. Antony is also reported to have sought the advice of a committee headed by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon on the issue.
Millennium Post was the first paper to report in its edition dated 10 June that creation of the post of CDS was under active consideration. The report had said that the army headquarters had expressed reservations to the ministry of defence on ‘anybody other than one from the army taking over as the first chief of defence staff (CDS)’, which would replace the existing chiefs of staff committee (COSC).
The Naresh Chandra committee on security reforms had suggested that till the time a chief of defence staff was appointed, the government should appoint a four-star officer as permanent chairman, chiefs of staff committee for a fixed two-year period. The Kargil reforms committee had recommended the creation of the post of CDS.
As per recommendations of the two committees, the CDS or the permanent chairman of the tri-services would be the single-point of advise on military matters for the government. The defence ministry has some reservations on the issue of giving sweeping powers proposed for the CDS by the two committees though.
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