NEW DELHI: As India moves towards creating tri-service theater commands, the Army has adopted a radical change in promotion policy for senior officers by making it necessary for all lieutenant generals be rated on their performance through a “quantified evaluation system“.
This new system, which will come into effect from March 31, will “facilitate merit-based selection” of serving lieutenant generals for senior-level appointments in integrated theater commands and tri-service establishments, sources said to TOI.
The new policy for lieutenant generals, with “revised annual confidential report (ACR) forms,” will not apply to the vice chief and commanders in chief of the Army’s six operational commands and one training command. These eight officers are also lieutenant generals, but one step higher than other three-star generals.
The over 11 lakh army has nearly 90 lieutenant generals, 300 major generals and 1,200 brigadiers in its cadre of 43,000 officers. “The new policy for lieutenant generals will bring the Army in line with the much smaller IAF and Navy, where there is already a quantified assessment of equivalent ranks (air marshals and vice admirals),” a source said.
“Until now there was no quantified ACR system for lieutenant generals. Now, they will be rated according to different attributes on a scale from 1 to 9. In fact, promotions will be based on merit and not just seniority. The imminent creation of theater command requires a uniform evaluation system for the highest positions in all three services,” he added.
The army headquarters’ letter on the new policy does not specify whether it will also be applicable for the selection of the vice chief and seven commanders-in-chief (C-in-C) within the force.
Under existing Army policy, promotion to the C-in-C level is based solely on seniority, along with date of birth and available vacancies. A lieutenant general, having commanded one of the force’s 14 corps, must have a “residual” service of 18 months (until he turns 60) to be promoted to commander-in-chief of one of the army’s seven commands. .
Some officials are already expressing strong reservations against the new policy. “Very few officers become three-star generals after being evaluated on merit at every step of their careers in the Army’s steeply pyramidal structure,” said one senior officer.
“After the rank of Lt-Gen, promotion to C-in-C was based on seniority. Introducing merit at this stage will open the door to interference, political or otherwise,” he added.
The policy comes at a time when the plan for three theater commands for China, Pakistan and the Indian Ocean region has been finalized to ensure an integrated war machine.