To increase cohesiveness and jointmanship among themselves, all the three services have agreed on making the post of Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) permanent, instead of setting up a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as suggested by the Kargil Review Committee nearly 10 years ago.
The Kargil Review Committee, set up by the government in the aftermath of the 1999 Kargil conflict, had recommended appointment of a CDS as single source of advice for the civilian establishment. The CDS was envisaged to be over and above the three services chiefs to increase efficiency during times of crises. However, due to inter-service rivalries, the institution did not see the light of the day and instead a CoSC was set up, wherein the most senior among the three service chiefs takes over as committee chairman.
“The three services have arrived at a consensus on making chairman of CoSC post permanent. In the present system, the chairman finds it difficult to devote enough time for the cause of jointness of services as he has the issues of his own force to deal with,” sources said. The three services chiefs have already conveyed their decision to the defence establishment.
Presently, the most senior service chief among the Army, Navy and Air Force dons the hat of the Chairman CoSC. His tenure ranges from one month to 20 months depending on his residual service. But this creates the problem of continuity. The Naresh Chandra Committee had also endorsed making the post permanent.
“The most senior of the service chiefs will be made the CoSC, whereas the officer next to him in seniority will take over as Chief of the Service. The CoSC will be able to become a single source of advice for the Defence Minister and Prime Minister of the day,” sources added.
The former Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma had publicly batted for permanent CoSC contending that “dual-hatting” of service chief was making it difficult to devote the kind of time required for it.
As a result -- despite the service chief and highly specialised Service Headquarters’ staff being at their disposal for advice in management of national security -- the political establishment is totally relying on the feedback of Defence Ministry civil servants, drawn from diverse backgrounds.
Admiral (retd) Arun Prakash, who was part of the committee, lamented: “The tenure is very truncated and you cannot deliver because service responsibility also weights on you. Permanent CoSC will take the efforts towards jointness in the right direction.”