With the term of Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat culminating by the end of the year, the Ministry of Defence has started the process of appointing his successor.

The file for the appointment has been initiated and has been moved for the purpose.

The Army chief post will become vacant on December 31 this year, the government officials said.

The senior-most officers of the force, including Lt Gen MM Narwane, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh and Lt Gen SK Saini are in contention for the appointment.

The process for appointment of service chiefs starts four to five months before the tenure of the incumbent is over.

The defence ministry’s role in the appointment for the next service chiefs is limited to sending the names in zone of consideration. The final decision is taken by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet, which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Home Minister Amit Shah is the only cabinet minister in this key panel.

The announcements were earlier made a month or 45 days before the retirement of incumbent service chief but now the rules have changed.