<p>Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, against whom former Army chief V K Singh had imposed a promotion ban for disciplinary reasons, was today designated as the Vice-Chief of Army Staff, a precursor to his likely elevation to the top post.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Army announced the decision to designate Suhag as the next VCOAS and he will take over from Lt Gen S K Singh on December 31 when the latter demits office.<br />Suhag is tipped to take over as Army Chief when incumbent General Bikram Singh retires in August next year.<br /><br />He has been in the line of succession to be the Army chief going by seniority but his prospects had run into rough weather after the then Army chief Gen V K Singh had slapped a discipline and vigilance promotion ban on him when he was heading the 3 Corps in Dimapur.<br /><br />V K Singh also served him a show cause notice in the last week of his tenure in May, 2012. He charged Suhag with "abdicating responsibility" in "a most unprofessional and lackadaisical manner" while dealing with a botched operation by an intelligence and surveillance unit under him.<br /><br />The decision was revoked by Gen Bikram Singh soon after he took over as the Army chief, paving the way for Suhag's elevation.<br /><br />If the government sticks to seniority criteria, which it has for long, Suhag will become the next Army chief.<br /><br />Many believed the whole controversy was an outcome of factional feud within the Army as V K Singh was not keen on Bikram Singh and Suhag succeeding him in that order and wanted to disrupt the chain of succession.<br /><br />He has, however, denied the allegation and instead blamed his predecessor Gen (retd) Deepak Kapoor of fixing his date of birth inaccurately so that his favourites could take over.<br /><br />In other decisions, Army has designated Lt Gen M M S Rai as the next chief of Eastern Command and Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni as the next head of South-Western Command.</p>
<p>Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, against whom former Army chief V K Singh had imposed a promotion ban for disciplinary reasons, was today designated as the Vice-Chief of Army Staff, a precursor to his likely elevation to the top post.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Army announced the decision to designate Suhag as the next VCOAS and he will take over from Lt Gen S K Singh on December 31 when the latter demits office.<br />Suhag is tipped to take over as Army Chief when incumbent General Bikram Singh retires in August next year.<br /><br />He has been in the line of succession to be the Army chief going by seniority but his prospects had run into rough weather after the then Army chief Gen V K Singh had slapped a discipline and vigilance promotion ban on him when he was heading the 3 Corps in Dimapur.<br /><br />V K Singh also served him a show cause notice in the last week of his tenure in May, 2012. He charged Suhag with "abdicating responsibility" in "a most unprofessional and lackadaisical manner" while dealing with a botched operation by an intelligence and surveillance unit under him.<br /><br />The decision was revoked by Gen Bikram Singh soon after he took over as the Army chief, paving the way for Suhag's elevation.<br /><br />If the government sticks to seniority criteria, which it has for long, Suhag will become the next Army chief.<br /><br />Many believed the whole controversy was an outcome of factional feud within the Army as V K Singh was not keen on Bikram Singh and Suhag succeeding him in that order and wanted to disrupt the chain of succession.<br /><br />He has, however, denied the allegation and instead blamed his predecessor Gen (retd) Deepak Kapoor of fixing his date of birth inaccurately so that his favourites could take over.<br /><br />In other decisions, Army has designated Lt Gen M M S Rai as the next chief of Eastern Command and Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni as the next head of South-Western Command.</p>