Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 23

Vice Admiral Karambir Singh Nijjer from Jalandhar has been appointed the next Chief of the Indian Navy, replacing Admiral Sunil Lanba, who superannuates on May 31. The Ministry of Defence made the announcement this afternoon.

Vice Admiral Karambir Singh will be the first naval helicopter pilot to head the force. Naval flying — fighter jets and helicopters — is a highly complex skill as landing a plane or a helicopter is done mostly on a ship deck at mid-sea.

His father, a retired Wing Commander of the IAF, died last year and the family has long resided in New Delhi.

Vice Admiral Karambir Singh is presently the Commander of the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam, and supersedes Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN), who is the seniormost officer after Admiral Lanba.

This is the second time that the ruling BJP government has refrained from going by the seniority principle. In 2016, the government appointed General Bipin Rawat as the Army Chief, overlooking the seniority of Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, the then Eastern Army Commander.

Service Chiefs are normally appointed two months in advance and the ongoing model code means the EC has to be kept in the loop for the appointment.

Admiral RK Dhowan was appointed Navy Chief after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were announced. He had also superseded his senior, Vice Admiral Sekhar Sinha.

Commissioned into the Indian Navy in July 1980, Vice Admiral Karambir Singh is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy. He earned his wings as a helicopter pilot in 1982 and has flown extensively the Chetak and Russian Kamov choppers used for hunting down enemy submarines.

He has served as the Chief of Staff at the CINCAN and commanded the Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area (FOMAG). He has been the Director General Project Seabird, in charge of infrastructure development of the Navy’s modern base at Karwar, north Karnataka.

He was also assigned higher responsibilities as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and Vice Chief of the Naval Staff prior to the present appointment.

Two Punjabis at helm