Indian Army Vice Chief Lieutenant General Manoj Pande was appointed as the next Army Chief by the Centre on Monday. As the 29th Army Chief of India, Lt Gen Pande will take over the important post on May 1.

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“Government has decided to appoint Lieutenant General Manoj Pande as the next chief of army staff,” news agency ANI quoted Defense officials.

Succeeding General Manoj Mukund Naravane whose 28-month tenure concludes on April 30, Lt Gen Pande is the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to become the Chief of Army Staff.

Before becoming the Vice Army Chief, Lt Gen Pande headed the Eastern Army Command, holding the responsibility of guarding the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. He is an alumnus of the National Defense Academy (NDA) and was commissioned into the Bombay Sappers in December 1982.

The news of the next Army Chief's appointment comes at a time when India is also looking for its new Chief of Defense Staff. The top post has been vacant since the tragic demise of the country's first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash last December.

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(With inputs from agencies)