NEW DELHI, 1 January 2005 — Lt. Gen. B.S. Thakur, commander in chief of Andaman and Nicobar Command, was yesterday appointed vice chief of the Army Staff. He will take up his new assignment on Jan. 5. Thakur succeeds Shantonu Chaudhary who retired yesterday.
An alumni of the National Defense Academy and Indian Military Academy, Thakur was commissioned into the Central India Horse (Armored Corps) in June 1965 and is the first Army officer to head the tri service command, an official release said.
In his distinguished military career spanning over 39 years, Thakur held a number of prestigious instructional, command and staff appointments in India and abroad. Lt. Gen. Arvind Sharma has been appointed GoC in C Eastern Command and Lt. Gen. S. Pattabhiraman as GoC in C western command. Lt. Gen. Aditya Singh has been made C in C of Andaman and Nicobar Command and Lt. Gen. Charanjit Singh as director general Artillery in the Army headquarters.
Meanwhile, Army Chief N.C. Vij yesterday took over as chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. Vij succeeds Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy who retired yesterday. Naval Chief Adm. Arun Prakash will take over as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee when Vij retires on Jan. 31.
In another change of guard, Air Chief Marshal, S.P. Tyagi yesterday took over as the new chief of the Air Staff in succession to Air Chief Marshal, S. Krishna Swami. Having actively participated in both the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, Tyagi commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on Dec. 3, 1963, and has the distinction of having commanded three Air Force Commands, Western, Central and Gandhinagar-based South-Western Command.
Meanwhile, Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami, under fire from the Election Commission for not initiating timely action against ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar for violation of model code of conduct, yesterday resigned from his service.
Bihar Chief Secretary K.A.H. Subramanian said he had received the resignation letter of Goswami. Subramanian said Goswami had sent his resignation letter to Secretary, Personnel Department, Ravi Kant with a copy to him. However, he did not cite any reason for his resignation. Goswami, who had been recently named by the Times Magazine among the 20 Asian Heroes, however, had earlier hinted at resigning from the Indian Administrative Service following an offer from the Sahara Group of Companies.
Subramaniam said that Goswami’s resignation letter was under process and once cleared by the Election Commission and the Centre, he would be allowed to leave the job. In another significant development, Bachcha Singh, who recently defected from Janata Dal-United and joined RJD, yesterday resigned from the Jharkhand Assembly, Speaker Mrigendra Pratap Singh said.
