General Sundararajan Padmanabhan
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General Sundararajan Padmanabhan assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the 20th Chief of Army Staff, on 30 September 2000. Born in Trivandrum, Kerala on 05 December 1940, he is an alumnus of the prestigious Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehra Dun and the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla in Pune. He was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery after graduating from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on 13 December 1959.
General Padmanabhan's illustrious career included several prestigious command, staff and instructional postings, besides having participated in numerous operations. A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, and National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi, his first command was that of the Gazala Mountain Regiment, one of the oldest artillery regiments of the Indian Army that has participated in several wars. Within army circles, he is affectionately known as Paddy.
Between July 1985 and February 1991, he set a record in the Army by commanding an artillery brigade and two infantry brigades in vastly different terrain. After his promotion to Major General, he took over a frontline infantry division in the western sector. After his promotion to Lieutenant General, he was commander of the 15 Corps in the Kashmir valley. It was during his tenure as the 15 Corps Commander, that the Army made big gains over the terrorists in Kashmir and could even scale down its operations. On 01 September 1996, he was appointed as the GOC of the Northern Command at Udhampur.
General Padmanabhan has been a Brigade Major of an infantry brigade on its raising, Colonel General Staff of a mountain division and Instructor in Gunnery at the School of Artillery, Deolali. He has also spent two tenures as Instructor at the IMA. He was Chief of Staff of a Corps in the eastern sector and Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) at Army Headquarters. Before being appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, he was the GOC of Southern Command. General Padmanabhan retired on 31 December 2002, after completing more than 43 years of distinguished military service.
