New Delhi, Jan 31 : The Vice Chief of the Army Staff, Lt Gen C P Mohanty, retired on Monday after four decades of illustrious service. He took charge as Vice Chief of Army Staff on February 1, 2021. His tenure will be remembered for the huge increase in emergency financial powers to buy urgently required weapon platforms and equipment and the impetus given to induction of niche and disruptive technologies in the Indian Army. “As the Vice Chief of the Army he was instrumental in executing a number of critical procurement decisions, especially involving emergency procurement to augment own preparedness along Northern borders,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
An alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun, National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Lt Gen Mohanty was commissioned into the Rajput Regiment on June 12, 1982. He served across a wide spectrum of conflicts and terrain profiles and tenanted a host of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. “Lt Gen Mohanty commanded a battalion on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and later in the Northeast. He has the unique distinction of commanding two brigades: first on the Line of Actual Control and later on, the multinational UN Brigade in Democratic Republic of Congo,” the statement added. He later commanded the Rangiya-based Division in a counter-insurgency environment and the Sikkim-based Trishakti Corps immediately after the Doklam incident.
Before taking over as the Vice Chief, he commanded the Pune-based Southern Command of the Indian Army. Lt Gen Mohanty laid a wreath at the National War Memorial on Monday on his superannuation.
