Adjutant-General (India) Explained

The Adjutant-General of the Indian Army is the senior administration officer who reports to the Chief of Army Staff and is also the Colonel of the Corps of Military Police and Judge Advocate General.^[1]

Role, organisation and function

The office of the Adjutant General deals with a wide spectrum of issues relating to Army, which includes manpower planning, human resource policy, recruitment, discipline, matters relating to Judge Advocate General's Department, Provost Marshal Directorate (Corps of Military Police), missing defence personnel, service matters relating to personnel and welfare of serving soldiers.^[2]

The Adjutant-General's office is organised as follows:^{[3] [4]}

• Director General (Manpower Planning and Personnel Services)
  • Additional Directorate General Manpower
  • Additional Directorate General of Recruiting
  • Additional Directorate General Personnel and Services
• Director General (Discipline, Ceremonial and Welfare)
  • Additional Directorate General (Discipline and Vigilance)
  • Additional Directorate General (Ceremonial and Welfare)
  • Provost Marshal
  • Judge Advocate General's Department
  • Managing Director, Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS)
• Director General Medical Services
• Director General Dental Services
• Army Group Insurance
• Directorate of Indian Army Veterans
  • Policy and Outreach
  • Pension and Entitlements
  • Benefits and Services
  • Career Transition Planning Sections
• Army Welfare Education Society
• Army Welfare Housing Organisation

Adjutants-General prior to Independence

Adjutants-General before the independence of India have included:

Rank	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	References
Colonel	Sir Henry George Smith	6 March 1840	7 April 1846
Colonel	Charles Robert Cureton	7 April 1846	22 November 1848
Colonel	Armine Simcoe Henry Mountain	2 February 1849	8 February 1854
Colonel		7 April 1854	28 November 1854
Colonel		28 November 1854	30 July 1857
Colonel	Sir Edward Lugard	31 July 1857	22 October 1858
Colonel	The Hon. William Lygon Pakenham	22 October 1858	1860
Colonel	Edmund Haythorne	22 June 1860	Jan 1866
Colonel	Henry Errington Longden	Jan 1866	Mar 1869
Major-General	The Hon. Frederic Augustus Thesiger	Mar 1869	Mar 1874
Major-General	Edwin Beaumont Johnson	Mar 1874	Sep 1874
Major-General	Sir Peter Stark Lumsden	Sep 1874	Oct 1879
Major-General	Sir George Richards Greaves	Oct 1879	Nov 1884
Major-General	Sir Thomas Durand Baker	Nov 1884	Feb 1887
Major-General	William Kidston Elles	Feb 1887	Oct 1890
Major-General	William Galbraith	Oct 1890	Apr 1895
Major-General	Gerald de Courcy Morton	Apr 1895	Nov 1898
Major-General	Sir William Nicholson	4 Nov 1898	9 Nov 1901
Major-General	Sir Edmond Elles (acting Adjutant-General)	4 Jan 1900	Apr 1901
Major-General	Beauchamp Duff (acting Adjutant-General)	Apr 1901	Nov 1901
Major-General	Horace Smith-Dorrien	9 Nov 1901	Jun 1903
Major-General	Beauchamp Duff	Jun 1903	Mar 1906
Major-General	Alfred Martin	Apr 1906	May 1908
Major-General	Robert Scallon	Jun 1908	Mar 1909
Lieutenant-General	Sir Arthur Barrett	Apr 1909	Feb 1912
Major-General	Fenton Aylmer	Mar 1912	Nov 1915
Major-General	John Walter	Nov 1915	Feb 1917
Lieutenant-General	Sir Havelock Hudson	Feb 1917	Nov 1920
Lieutenant-General	Sir Walter Delamain	Nov 1920	Mar 1923
Lieutenant-General	Sir George Barrow	Mar 1923	Feb 1924
General	Sir John Shea	Feb 1924	May 1928
General	Sir Robert Cassels	May 1928	May 1930
General	Sir Norman MacMullen	May 1930	Apr 1932
General	Sir Walter Leslie	Apr 1932	Apr 1936
Lieutenant-General	Sir John Brind	Apr 1936	Oct 1937
General	Sir Roger Wilson	Oct 1937	Mar 1941
Lieutenant-General	Brodie Haig	May 1941	Oct 1941
Lieutenant-General	Sir William Baker	Oct 1941	Mar 1944
Lieutenant-General	Sir Ralph Deedes	Mar 1944	Mar 1946
Lieutenant-General	Sir Reginald Savory	Mar 1946	1947	^[5]

Adjutants-General after Independence

Adjutants-General after independence have included:

Rank	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	References
Major General	Hira Lal Atal			16th Light Cavalry	^[6] ^[7]
	S M Shrinagesh	January 1948	August 1948	19th Hyderabad Regiment	^[8]
	Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri	January 1952	January 1953	7th Light Cavalry	^[9]
Lieutenant General	Kanwar Bahadur Singh		1 October 1959	19th Hyderabad Regiment	^[10]
	P P Kumaramangalam	5 October 1959	30 April 1963	Regiment of Artillery	^[11]
	Kashmir Singh Katoch	1 May 1963	November 1963	East Surrey Regiment	^[12]
	Har Prasad		December 1970	3rd Cavalry	^[13]
	Har Krishen Sibal	December 1970	June 1972	5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force)
	Srinivas Kumar Sinha		July 1980	Jat Regiment	^[14]
	K Balaram		July 1985	Corps of Signals
	SK Mazumdar		1988	Bengal Sappers
	Manohar Lal Chibber			5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force)	^[15]
	Bhartruhari Trimbak Pandit	1990	March 1992	Corps of Engineers	^[16] ^[17]
	R V Kulkarni	March 1992	April 1993	Garhwal Rifles	^[18]
	Madan Mohan Lakhera	June 1993	October 1995	Kumaon Regiment	^[19]
	Krishna Mohan Seth	October 1995	31 December 1997	Regiment of Artillery	^[20]
	S S Grewal	1 January 1998	30 April 2002	Jammu and Kashmir Rifles	^[21]
	A Natarajan	1 May 2002	31 January 2004	Regiment of Artillery	^[22]
	Mohinder Singh	3 February 2004	30 October 2005	Punjab Regiment	^[23]
	A S Jamwal	31 October 2005	31 August 2006	Regiment of Artillery	^[24] ^[25]
	Thomas Mathew	1 September 2006	January 2009	Rajput Regiment	^[26]
	Mukesh Sabharwal	January 2009	2011	Rajput Regiment	^[27] ^[28]
	Jai Prakash Nehra	2011	May 2013	Madras Regiment	^[29] ^[30]
	Sanjeev Anand	2013	2014	Mechanised Infantry Regiment	^[31] ^[32]
	Gurmit Singh	July 2014	2015	Assam Regiment	^[33]
	Rakesh Sharma	2015	March 2017	11th Gorkha Rifles	^[34]
	Ashwani Kumar	2017	31 October 2019	Corps of Army Air Defence	^[35]
	Arvind Dutta	1 January 2020	November 2020	Dogra Regiment	^[36]
	Harsha Gupta	December 2020	March 2022	Sikh Light Infantry	^[37]
	Bansi Ponnappa	April 2022	31 July 2024	Mahar Regiment	^[38]
	VPS Kaushik	3 August 2024	Incumbent	Kumaon Regiment	^[39]

Notes and References

1. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Today/225-Army-Headquarters.html Army Headquarters
2. Web site: Defence(Adjutant General) Division. 2021-07-29.
3. Web site: Contact Information. 2021-07-29.
4. Web site: Directorates and Branches. 2021-08-04.
5. http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201860-.pdf Army Commands
6. Book: Singh. Bikram. Mishra. Sidharth. Where gallantry is tradition. Allied Publishers. 1997. 978-8170236498.
7. Web site: Kashmiri Pandit soldiers to the fore. 2013-02-14. 2021-07-31.
8. Web site: PIB. 1948-03-18. 2023-11-16.
9. Web site: Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri. 1966-04-30. 2023-11-16.
10. Web site: PIB release - NDC. 1959-09-30. 2021-07-31.
11. News: Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) . 286 . 21 November 1959 . The Gazette of India.
12. Web site: Lt Gen KS Katoch retires. 1970-11-22. 2021-08-08.
13. Web site: New Adjutant General. 1970-12-11. 2021-08-16.
14. Web site: Lt Gen SK Sinha – Brown Pundits. 2021-07-31. www.brownpundits.com.
15. Web site: Paramilitary forces: A change of bosses?. 1981-03-31. 2021-10-10.
16. Web site: Senior Indian Army officers dismissed for debauchery. 1990-10-31. 2021-08-01.
17. Web site: NDA promotes alumni-cadet relationship. 2003-05-09. 2021-08-01.
18. Web site: Lt Gen VP Airy. 1992-08-28. 2021-08-01.
19. Web site: Former Governor. 2021-07-31.
20. Web site: Lt Gen Seth takes oath as Chhattisgarh Governor. 2003-01-02. 2021-07-29.
21. Web site: LT GENERAL SS GREWAL RETIRES. 2002-04-30. 2021-07-29.
22. Web site: LT GEN A NATARAJAN TAKES OVER AS ADJUTANT GENERAL. 2002-05-01. 2021-07-29.
23. Web site: Lt Gen Mohinder Singh assumes charge as Adjutant General. 2004-02-03. 2021-08-01.
24. Web site: Lt Gen Thomas Mathew taking over the office of Adjutant General of Indian Army from Lt Gen A S Jamwal at Army HQ in New Delhi on September 1.. 2006-09-06. 2021-07-29.
25. Web site: Lt Gen Anup Singh Jamwal takes over as Adjutant General. 2005-10-31. 2021-07-29.
26. Web site: Lt Gen Thomas Mathew takes over as new Adjutant General. 2006-09-01. 2021-07-29.
27. Web site: CMP Ceremonial Parade. 2011-01-11. 2021-07-29.
28. Web site: t Gen Mukesh Sabherwal (right) taking over the charge of Adjutant General from Lt Gen Thomas Mathew in New Delhi. 2009-01-01. 2021-07-29.
29. Web site: JAG Day, When Justice is Duty. 2013-02-01. 2021-07-29.
30. Web site: Senior Army general shunted after charges of irregularity. 2013-05-30. 2021-08-01.
31. Web site: Army Recruitment Conference. 2014-04-14. 2021-07-29.
32. Web site: CURRICULUM VITAE. 2021-07-30.
33. Web site: Platinum Jubilee, Corps of Military Police. 2014-12-01. 2021-07-29.
34. Web site: Indian Army and CGDA hold conference to upgrade Financial Governance. 2017-01-16. 2021-07-29.
35. Web site: Lt General Ashwani Kumar assumes charge as Adjutant General. 2017-07-08. 2021-07-29.
36. News: Lt Gen Arvind Dutta appointed Adjutant General of Indian Army . ANI . 30 October 2019 . en . 19 January 2020.
37. Web site: MOU Signed Between Directorate of Indian Army Veterans (DIAV) and Mrs Veena Nayyar to Support Families of Servicemen Deceased in the Line of Duty. 2021-03-01. 2021-07-29.
38. adgpi. 1509844712039010312. Lieutenant General C Bansi Ponnappa assumed the appointment of Adjutant General of Indian Army on 01 Apr 2022.. 2 April 2022 . en.
39. Web site: Lt Gen VPS Kaushik assumes as Adjutant General of Indian Army. 2024-08-03. 2024-08-03.