Lieutenant General V K Singh, the Eastern Army Commander and senior-most infantry officer, was on Friday named the next Army chief.
Singh, 59, will take over from General Deepak Kapoor on March 31 when he retires from service, defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said.
The defence ministry issued the order appointing Singh for the top post after the Cabinet Committee on Appointments cleared his name on Thursday.
Singh was in the news recently when he recommended action against four General-ranked officers indicted by a probe in the Sukhna land scam in Darjeeling district of West Bengal. The defence ministry has also sought equal treatment in action against the four Generals.
A third generation officer from the Rajput regiment, Singh is a graduate of the Wellington-based Defense Services Staff College as well as the Rangers Course at Fort Benning, United States and the US Army War College, Carlisle.
He was commissioned into the 2 Rajput Regiment in June 1970 and commanded the same unit when it was positioned along the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Experienced in counter-insurgency operations, Line of Control and high-altitude operations, Singh was awarded the Yudh Sena Medal for his distinguished service during
'Operation Pawan' against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.
Singh, who has seen action in the 1971 Bangladesh war, served in the Military Operations Directorate at the Army Headquarters and was Brigadier General Staff of a Corps during 'Operation Parakram', when troops were mobilised on the border in the wake of the attack on Parliament.
He also commanded the Jalandhar-based 11 Corps in the Punjab plains and was an instructor in the Indian Military Training Team headquarters in Bhutan.
Singh was also awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service while commanding a counter-insurgency force.
