It’s official: NDA Commandant shifted to Army headquarters

The NDA is the only tri-services training establishment that trains cadets before joining the academies of the respective services. Thus,the Commandant of the academy is an office held by officers of the three services on rotation. Lt Gen Jatinder Singh who assumed the office of the NDA commandant on January 1,2011 was to retire in October- November. Prior to this,the charge was held by Vice Admiral Satish Soni,a Naval officer. As evident,it was the turn of the Air Force to hold the office of the Commandant after Lt Gen Singh’s retirement. However,the NDA Commandant’s early exit has led to speculation whether the new Commandant will be an Air Force officer or an Army officer. In case it’s an Army officer,he will hold the office for three-four months before handing over charge to an Air Force officer of the Air Marshal rank.

“The ambiguity over whether the Army will send an officer of the Lt Gen rank to take over the office or it will be handed over to the IAF still remains. As of now,Rear Admiral Iyer will officiate as the Commandant,” said an NDA official.

“It will be sensible to appoint an IAF officer as it would help him hold the office for a longer duration. He will get two years to put the house in order. For this,the Army will have to forgo three months of their turn. But since the Army has more stake in the NDA owing to maximum number of Army cadets in the academy,it might want to hold the office for three months and rebuild its image it appears to have lost over the recent incident. Besides there are promotion-related aspects to be considered,” said a senior retired officer.