The Commandant of the National Defence College in India is the overall in-charge of all the functioning of the National Defence College including academics and administration. The Commandant of the college is a Three-star rank officer from the three Services in rotation for a term of two years.
History In July 1959, Lieutenant General Kanwar Bahadur Singh was appointed the first Commandant of the college. By the end of the year, he formulated detailed plans including the aim and the charter of NDC as well as the scope of studies at the college. The Chiefs of Staff cleared approved them on 25 December 1959.
Organisation The Commandant is supported by seven Senior Directing Staff (3 from the Indian Army and 1 each from the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Civil Service and the Foreign Service). Administration is looked after by the Secretary under the Commandant and is supported by a number of Staff Officers.
List of Commandants S.No Name Branch Assumed office Left office Notes 1 Lieutenant General Kanwar Bahadur Singh July 1959 January 1964 First Commandant of NDC 2 Vice Admiral A K Chatterji January 1964 January 1966 Later served as the Chief of the Naval Staff 3 Air Marshal R Rajaram January 1966 December 1966 Later served as Vice Chief of the Air Staff. Died in harness while VCAS. 4 Lieutenant General M M Khanna December 1966 November 1968 5 Vice Admiral S N Kohli November 1968 April 1971 Served as Western Naval Commander during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and later served as Chief of the Naval Staff of the Indian Navy 6 Air Marshal H Moolgavkar April 1971 April 1973 Served as the Central Air Commander and Western Air Commander before taking over as the 9th Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force 7 Lieutenant General M N Batra April 1973January 1975 First ex-NDC Commandant 8 Vice Admiral S H Sarma January 1975 January 1977 Served as Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and later served as Eastern Naval Commander 9 Air Marshal T N Ghadiok February 1977 December 1978 10 Lieutenant General WAG Pinto January 1979January 1980 Later served as the Central Army Commander 11 Air Marshal D G Kinglee September 1980 September 1982 Later served as the Central Air Commander 12 Vice Admiral R V Aarte September 1982 August 1984 10 Lieutenant General Himmeth Singh September 1984June 1986 13 Air Marshal P K Puri July 1986 August 1988 14 Vice Admiral S P Govil September 1988 September 1990 Later served as Vice Chief of Naval Staff 15 Lieutenant General K S Khajuria September 1990June 1992 16 Air Marshal S Kulkarni July 1992 January 1995 17 Vice Admiral Vinod Pasricha January 1995 December 1996 Later served as Eastern Naval Commander and Western Naval Commander 18 Lieutenant General S R R Aiyengar January 1997April 1999 Later served as Commandant of Defence Services Staff College 19 Air Marshal V G Kumar April 1999 March 2001 20 Vice Admiral Yashwant Prasad April 2001 December 2002 Later served as Southern Naval Commander and thereafter the Vice Chief of Naval Staff 21 Lieutenant General S S Chahal December 2002June 2004 22 Lieutenant General Tej Pathak July 2004December 2004 23 Air Marshal P P Raj Kumar January 2005 December 2006 Later served as the Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command and thereafter Central Air Commander 24 Vice Admiral Pradeep Kaushiva December 2006 September 2007 25 Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin September 2007 December 2008 Later served as the Western Naval Commander 26 Lieutenant General Prakash Menon January 2009 December 2010 27 Air Marshal P K Roy January 2011 November 2012 Later served as Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command 28 Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba December 2012 June 2014 Later served as the Chief of the Naval Staff 29 Lieutenant General N S Ghei June 2014 December 2016 30 Lieutenant General Y V K Mohan January 2017 January 2018 Later served as Commandant of Defence Services Staff College 31 Vice Admiral Srikant January 2018 16 December 2019 Later died in harness of COVID-19. 32 Air Marshal Diptendu Choudhury 16 December 2019 30 October 2021 33Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar Mago 31 October 202131 December 202234Lieutenant General Sukriti Singh Dahiya 1 January 202330 April 202435Air Marshal Hardeep Bains 1 May 202430 September 202536Air Marshal Manish Kumar Gupta 1 October 2025Included
List of Commandants by branches of service Branch Count 14 11 11
See also
Commandant of the Indian Military Academy Commandant of the National Defence Academy Commandant of Indian Naval Academy
References