In a series of changes in the top hierarchy of the Army, Lt. Gen. Manoj Pande took over as the Vice Chief of Army Staff on Tuesday from Lt. Gen. C.P. Mohanty who superannuated on January 31.
Prior to this, Lt. Gen. Pande was serving as the Eastern Army Commander. He was commissioned in December 1982 into the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers). Lt. Gen. Pande will be the senior most officer in the Army when current chief Gen. Manoj Naravane completes his tenure in April.
In other key appointments, Lt. Gen. Upendra Dwivedi assumed the appointment of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Udhampur based Northern Command while Lt. Gen. R.P. Kalita assumed charge as GOC-in-Command, Eastern Command at Fort William in Kolkata.
Lt. Gen. G.A.V. Reddy took charge as the new head of the Defence Intelligence Agency following the retirement of the incumbent Lt. Gen. K.J.S. Dhillon. Lt. Gen. Dwivedi was Deputy Chief of the Army Staff prior to assuming the present appointment. He was commissioned into the Jammu And Kashmir Rifles Regiment.