Set procedure followed in Lt. General Bipin Rawat's appointment as Army Chief: Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday asserted that a set procedure was followed in Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat's appointment as the Army Chief.

"A set procedure was followed. There was no seniority principal or it would've merely been a date based computer job," said Parrikar while speaking at Ministry of Defence's 'Swachhta Pakhwada' here in the national capital.

Lieutenant General Rawat last Saturday took over as the 27th Chief Of Army Staff (COAS).

An inevitable controversy had erupted after the government's announcement of Lieutenant General Rawat as the army chief with opposition parties accusing the government of politicising the appointment by abandoning the traditional criterion of seniority.

Lieutenant General Rawat, who took over as Vice-Chief of Army Staff in September 2016, bypassed Eastern Commander Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi (Armoured Corps) and Southern Commander Lieutenant General P.M. Hariz (Mechanised Infantry) to bag the coveted post.

Lieutenant General Rawat has remarkable experience of serving in combat areas and at various functional levels in the Indian Army over the last three decades.