Commandant of the Indian Military Academy

The Commandant of the Indian Military Academy is a post created in 1932 for the purpose of leading the Indian Military Academy in its education of "gentleman cadets". The Commandant must hold a rank of lieutenant general (three star equivalent) or above. There is no minimum nor maximum term of service in this position though in practice commandants have served anywhere from a few months to 4 years in the position.

Lt Gen Harinder Singh, the incumbent commandant.

History

General Philip Chetwode chose Brig LP Collins (4 Gurkhas) as the first commandant. Brig LP Collins had the task of first acquiring the campus from the railways in Dehradun, and then converting it into an army training institution, taking ten months to do so.[1] On 1 October 1932, the raising day, Brig LP Collins issued a Special Order of the Day "The Indian Military Academy opens with effect from today [...]."[2]

There were a total of 5 British commandants including Brig LP Collins, after which Brig Thakur Mahadeo Singh was appointed as the first Commandant of Indian descent post-independence in 1947.[3] Brig Thakur Mahadeo Singh was followed by Maj Gen KS Thimayya who became the first IMA Commandant to go on to become the Chief of Army Staff in India. Brigadier M.M. Khanna was the first alumni of IMA alumni to be appointed Commandant.[3][4]

Following a recommendation in 1983 by the Ministry of Defence the need was felt that cadets needed to know about application of science in weaponry. Lt Gen Mathew Thomas and all following commandants took note of these changes and implemented them.[5] Lt Gen M Thomas also suggested a change in syllabus, proposing new computer focused teaching methods as well as further emphasis on advanced training. This included sending cadets to the High Altitude Warfare School and the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School among other things.[6] Commandant Lt Gen Himmeth Singh appreciated the difficulties of modern warfare, but emphasized the human factor.[6] His outline of teaching is as follows:

"[...] the process of understanding the soldier must remain an on-going process and our skills in handling him suitably modified on requirement. It is by this process only that we shall get the best out of out men and above all not be found wanting by the men we command."

— Lt Gen Himmeth Singh[6]

Commandants
KS Thimayya, Commandant of IMA 1950-1951, went on to become the Chief of Army Staff in India.
Maj Gen K Zorawar Singh (1964 - 1966)

There have been a total of 49 Commandants[7] so far:

# Start End Rank/Name References
1 1932 1936 Brig Lionel Peter Collins [4]
2 1936 1939 Brig Harold Kingsley [8]
3 1939 1942 Brig KD EL Young [9]
4 1942 1944 Brig JK Jones [9]
5 1944 1947 Brig AB Barltrop [9]
6 1947 1950 Maj Gen Thakur Mahadeo [4]
7 1950 1951 Maj Gen KS Thimayya [9]
8 1951 1953 Maj Gen MS Wadalia [9]
9 1953 1954 Maj Gen E Habibullah [9]
10 1954 1956 Brig Apji Randhir Singh [9]
11 1956 1958 Brig MM Khanna [4]
12 1958 1959 Brig Gobinder Singh [9]
13 1960 1962 Brig ND Nanavati [9]
14 1962 1963 Brig PS Bhagat [9]
15 1963 1964 Maj Gen SC Pandit [9]
16 1964 1966 Maj Gen K Zorawar Singh [10]
17 1966 1967 Maj Gen JT Sataravala [10]
18 1967 1969 Maj Gen D K Palit [10]
19 1969 1972 Maj Gen Rajindra Prasad [10]
20 1972 1974 Maj Gen IC Katoch [10]
21 1974 1975 Maj Gen BR Prabhu [10]
22 1975 1976 Maj Gen SC Sinha [10]
23 1976 1979 Maj Gen GS Rawat [10]
24 1979 1980 Maj Gen Rajendra Nath [10]
25 1980 1983 Lt Gen M Thomas [10]
26 1983 1984 Lt Gen Himmeth Singh [10]
27 1984 1986 Lt Gen BB Sehgal [10]
28 1986 1986 Lt Gen SS Brar [10]
29 1986 1988 Lt Gen VP Gupta [10]
30 1988 1990 Lt Gen NPS Bal [10]
31 1990 1991 Lt Gen YS Tomar [10]
32 1991 1991 Lt Gen MA Zaki [10]
33 1991 1994 Lt Gen JC Pant [11]
34 1994 1996 Lt Gen Inder Verma [11]
35 1996 1998 Lt Gen AS Sandhu [11]
36 1998 1999 Lt Gen MA Gurbaxani Sahi [11]
37 1999 2001 Lt Gen Yuvraj Mehta [12][11]
38 2001 2003 Lt Gen TS Shergill [13][11]
39 2003 2004 Lt Gen GS Negi [11]
40 2004 2006 Lt Gen KK Khanna [14][15]
41 2006 2008 Lt Gen PK Rampal [15]
42 2008 2011 Lt Gen R. Singh Sujlana [16]
43 2011 2015 Lt Gen Manvender Singh [17]
44 2015 2015 Lt Gen BS Negi [18]
45 2016 2016 Lt Gen SK Saini [19]
46 2016 2017 Lt Gen SK Upadhya [20]
47 2018 2018 Lt Gen S K Saini [21]
48 2018 2020 Lt Gen Sanjay Kumar Jha [22]
49 2020 Sept 2020 Lt Gen Jaiveer Singh Negi [23]
50 October 2020 Incumbent Lt Gen Harinder Singh [24]

See also

References
  1. Singh 2007, p. 21.
  2. Singh 2007, p. 22.
  3. Singh 2007.
  4. "Lieutenant General SK Saini takes over as 46th Commandant of Indian Military Academy". Jagranjosh. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  5. Singh 2007, p. 189.
  6. Singh 2007, p. 190.
  7. "The Official Home Page of the Indian Army| Commandants of the Indian Military Academy". Indian Army. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  8. "Commandants of IMA". Indian Army. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  9. Singh 2007, p. 221, Appendix A.
  10. Singh 2007, p. 222, Appendix A.
  11. Singh 2007, p. 205.
  12. Joshi, Sandeep (11 June 2001). "Army jobs 'less attractive'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  13. "1964 batch of IMA officers likely to congregate in Doon". The Pioneer. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  14. "Lt. Gen K K Khanna is new IMA chief". Zee News. 30 November 2004. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  15. Singh 2007, p. 206.
  16. "Lt Gen Sujlana is new IMA chief". Zee News. 1 October 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  17. "IMA Commandant lt Gen Manvender Singh retires". The Pioneer. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  18. "Lt General Balwant Singh Negi takes over as Indian Military Academy Commandant". The Economic Times. PTI. 14 July 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2019.CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. "Lt Gen Saini is IMA Commandant". www.tribuneindia.com. Tribune India.
  20. Pioneer, The. "lt-Gen Santosh Upadhya to be new IMA commandant". The Pioneer.
  21. "Lt General Saini new commandant of Indian Military Academy". The Economic Times. PTI. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2019.CS1 maint: others (link)
  22. Pioneer. "87th raising day of IMA celebrated". The Pioneer. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  23. Pioneer, The. "Lt Gen Negi takes over as 49th commandant of IMA". The Pioneer. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  24. "New IMA Commandant Lt General Harinder Singh".

Bibliography
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