NEW DELHI: All stake holders related to the formulation of the theatre commands are scheduled to meet on Tuesday. The meeting is called to iron out the differences on issue of the structure of the Theatre Commands.
A source said, “General Bipin Rawat will be chairing a meeting of the Vice Chief’s Committee with the representatives of Department of Defence (MoD), Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security Council Secretariat.”
The discussions will be to resolve the observations raised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Air Force in a presentation given to the Defence Minister early this month, added the source.
While Air force has observations regarding the asset division, the MHA has it about the operational command of the Central Armed Police Forces, pointed another source.
When TNIE asked the Air Force Spokesperson said, "Official deliberation regarding theatre commands are on-going. IAF will not comment on the issues."
The war fighting structure of the Armed Forces (Army, Air Force and Navy) is being reorganised into theatre commands with an aim to have the assets of all three forces under one commander responsible for all operations under his theatre.
Of the various structures under consideration, the entire geographical area put under five theatre commands with Air Defence Theatre Command, Maritie Theatre Command, Northern Command (Comprising Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh) and Western Command and Eastern Command.
At present, the three armed forces have together 17 commands with Army and Air Force having seven commands each and Navy has three commands.
China also reorganised its seven military districts into five theatre commands with Indian Borders falling into the operational responsibility of its Western Theatre Command.
Approving a major reform at the Higher Defence Management level the government formed Department of Military Affairs in 2019 with the appointment of General Bipin Rawat as the Chief of Defence Staff as its Secretary. Formulation of the Theatre Command is the mandate of the CDS along with integration and synergy of the armed forces.
The mandate of the Department of Military Affairs includes facilitation of restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/theatre commands.