The Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, seeks to bestow powers on the commander-in-chief, officer-in-command or any other officer heading a tri-services organisation to take disciplinary and administrative action against personnel under them who are currently governed by the respective laws of the three services, the Army Act, 1950, the Air Force Act, 1950, and the Navy Act, 1957.

The existing legal framework of the armed forces has its limitations when it comes to tri-services matters as officers of one particular service lack the authority to exercise disciplinary and administrative powers over personnel belonging to another service. For instance, a three-star general heading a joint command cannot take action against air force or navy personnel serving under him.

The bill said the lack of such powers with the heads of inter-services organisations and joint establishments over personnel belonging to a service other than their own has a direct impact on command, control and discipline. It made the point while mentioning joint organisations like the Andaman and Nicobar Command, the Defence Space Agency, the National Defence Academy and National Defence College.

“As a consequence, the personnel serving in inter-services organisations need to be reverted to their parent service units for any disciplinary or administrative action. This is not only time consuming, but also has financial implications relating to movement of the personnel,” the government said in a statement on the objectives of the Bill.

That’s not the only concern.

The problem, the government said, becomes even more cumbersome when the disciplinary or administrative proceedings stem from the same set of circumstances but involve personnel belonging to different services.

“Multiple sets of proceedings under the respective Service Acts are required to be initiated, which impedes expeditious disposal of cases, thereby affecting the standard of discipline,” it pointed out.

The Bill seeks to address these critical issues “without disturbing the unique service conditions or amending the Service Acts.”

The proposed law will improve the functioning of inter-services organisations as they will be able to work with greater independence as a result of much-needed powers being vested in their commanders, said Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), a former Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee.

“The timing is also significant as the armed forces are moving towards theaterisation. The utility of the law will only increase as more inter-services organisations come up,” Dua added.

Another key objective of the Bill is to empower the Union government to notify the setting up of inter-services organisations, including joint services commands — a key goal of the ongoing theaterisation drive — comprising units and personnel drawn from the three services, and placed under a commander-in-chief or officer-in-command.

Efforts to push theaterisation have been on after General Anil Chauhan took over as the chief of defence staff (CDS) in September 2022 even though the momentum was hit after his predecessor, General Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

The government said the proposed law will be an “enabling legislation,” and bring in a raft of “tangible benefits” including faster disposal of cases, it will save time and public money by doing away with multiple proceedings, and also enhance integration and jointmanship among the armed forces.

The theaterisation model being pursued under General Rawat sought to set up four integrated commands — two land-centric theatres, an air defence command and a maritime theatre command. This, however, is being reworked on the back of the Indian Air Force’s reservations about the joint structures that were earlier under consideration, officials familiar with the matter said. The armed forces have 17 single-service commands spread across the country. The army and air force have seven commands each, while the navy has three. Creating theatres would involve merging the existing commands.

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While the initial plan was to create four theatre commands — an air defence command, a maritime theatre command and two land-based theatre commands (one each for the western and the eastern sectors) – the services decided to take a fresh relook on the proposed reform after the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan asked them to do so, considering the IAF’s objections to the previous plan.

One of the top proposals being considered is to create joint theatre commands based on India’s adversaries in the neighbourhood to begin with, as against the four defined theatre commands planned earlier.

This involves initially carving out an integrated theatre command to take care of the northern and eastern borders with China, another for the western borders with Pakistan and a third maritime command to tackle threats in the maritime domain, from the 17 service-specific military commands operating under the three services at present. Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Lucknow are among the possible locations being discussed for their headquarters.

Also under discussion is the creation of a joint training command. Three joint logistics nodes had already been operationalised until 2021. India has two joint services commands at present – the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC).

An official said efforts are on to ensure that the process of creating the theatre commands does not have a long “settling period” given that there’s alway the possibility of a conflict on the horizon.

The previous plan had envisaged keeping out the Army’s Northern Command and the IAF’s Air Officer Commanding Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh from the theatre commands and these were to operate independently.

The IAF had raised objections to the previous theaterisation plans – these were spearheaded by the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat – and stated that it would divide their fighting assets.

Over the last two years, multiple studies were carried out by top officers of the three services to examine the theaterisation process, but the plans lost pace after General Rawat was killed in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

Meanwhile, the services continued their deliberations on the proposed reform with a few table-top exercises held to examine employment of theatres in different operational scenarios.

The plans picked up pace again after the current CDS, General Anil Chauhan, took over in September last year.

According to officials, the services were asked to individually study and check the feasibility of adopting a new and separate approach to the Indian military’s theaterisation plans. In the last three months, multiple meetings have taken place within the three services – and between the three service chiefs and General Chauhan on the theaterisation plans.

Officials privy to the latest developments said the plan is expected to be finalised shortly, which would be discussed, examined and accordingly fine-tuned further in consultation with the CDS.

They emphasised that the existing plan is still fluid and may undergo additional changes with more internal deliberations, and inputs from the government.

Last year, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari had said that the IAF is not opposed to the theaterisation process if the doctrinal aspects of the force is not compromised by the creation of the new structures.

He had also said that while the theatre commands should be future-ready to deal with the emerging forms of warfare in the space and cyber domains, they should not increase the decision-making chains from the existing levels.

Last month, former Army chief General M M Naravane (retd) said that unless a national security strategy is in place, talk of theaterisation is “actually putting the cart before the horse”.

Army chief General Manoj Pande told the media last week that there is a need to get the right tri-service structures in place and the services are in the process of deliberations on issues related to theatre commands.

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The model of integration adopted by India’s armed forces must be future-ready, reduce levels of decision-making and lead to an organisational structure best suited to India’s conditions and geopolitical imperatives, he told an annual news conference ahead of the Air Force Day on October 8.

Chaudhari acknowledged that the IAF has “reservations” about certain aspects of structures proposed to be created under the tri-services integration plan but made it clear the force supports the overall move to ensure synergy between the army, air force and navy.

 “We are not opposing any process of integration and any process of theatre commands. We have certain reservations in respect to the structures,” he said while responding to a question on the plan for creating theatre commands by integrating assets of the three services.

“We are fully supporting the integration process, it is only the methodology and the kind of structures that need to be future-ready, is what we are insisting on,” he said. “Each service has a doctrine. The doctrinal aspects of the IAF should not be compromised in any way by the new structures.”

Chaudhari said in his opening remarks that no single service can win wars on its own and “this holds good even for the future”. He noted that air power has the “unique capability” of undertaking independent strategic operations as well as operations coordinated with sister services.

He added: “We understand the imperativeness of joint planning and execution in future wars and are keen on integrating the efforts of the three services. We believe that the model of integration that we adopt must be future-ready, it must reduce levels of decision-making and capitalise on the strength of all three services. We need an organisational structure that is best suited for Indian conditions and our geopolitical imperatives.”

The army, air force and navy currently have separate commands spread across the country. The theaterisation process aims to bring together the assets of the three services under theatre commands that will be responsible for tackling security challenges in a specified region. Such commands will be led by operational commanders.

IAF has expressed its reservations about the process in the past too.

The country’s first Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, was leading the theaterisation process but the implementation ground to a halt following his death in a helicopter crash in December last year. The process is now expected to gain pace following last week’s appointment of Gen Anil Chauhan as the new Chief of Defence Staff. In the initial stages, an air defence command and maritime theatre command will be created.

Chaudhari said IAF recently updated and revised its doctrine to remain relevant. “The next step would be to use our doctrines and well-trained manpower to evolve employment philosophies and concepts of operations. This would require joint planning and joint execution of plans,” he said.

New structures should be created while keeping in mind future challenges in the cyber and space domains, and there must be clarity in the decision-making process, he said.

Chaudhari also said the IAF is being transformed into an aerospace force. “We see space as a natural extension of the air medium and we understand the need for exploiting this domain…Space-based assets significantly enhance the potency of air power and therefore our strategy is to fully integrate our air and space capabilities to have a common picture of the aerospace medium and to enable optimum force application,” he said.

“Traditionally, wars were fought on the land, sea and in the air. Today, newer domains like cyber and space are increasingly affecting the conduct of operations even in the traditional realms,” he said. “To absorb these changes, the IAF is on the path of transformation so that we can fight and win tomorrow’s wars.”

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Lt Gen. Chauhan, 61, will be India’s second CDS. His predecessor, Gen. Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash in December last year. This is the first time in the history of the Indian military that a retired three-star officer has returned to active service in a four-star position.

In the 10 months following Gen. Rawat’s death, there had been widespread speculation that the next CDS would be appointed from within the Indian Army, not only because it is the biggest and most influential of the three services but also because Gen. Rawat’s untimely death had left the army’s CDS term unfinished.

In June, when the government made changes in the rules for appointment of the CDS, military circles were abuzz with Lt Gen. Chauhan’s name as a possible contender for the coveted post. Lt Gen. Chauhan belonged to the 11 Gorkha Rifles regiment, the same as Gen. Rawat. He is a native of Uttarakhand, like Gen. Rawat was. After his retirement from the army in May 2021, Lt Gen. Chauhan had been working closely with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval as a military advisor in the National Security Council Secretariat.

Seen as an expert on China, Lt. Gen. Chauhan previously served as director general of military operations (DGMO) before being appointed as the eastern army commander in September 2019. In his 40-year-long service in the army, he commanded an infantry division in the critical Baramulla sector in the Northern Command and later a corps in the Northeast.

Besides being a hardcore military man, Lt Gen. Chauhan has been a regular contributor to military think-tanks and has authored the book Aftermath of a Nuclear Attack.

As CDS, one of Lt Gen. Chauhan‘s biggest tasks will be to complete the theaterisation of the defence forces, which will see the creation of theatre commands. Gen. Rawat, who had started the process, was of the view that there was a marked lack of synergy between the three military wings since they operated in isolation. In the past few months, several studies on theatre commands have been underway at the Department of Military Affairs, along with a study on manpower optimisation.

The main agenda for the CDS will be to build a lean and integrated warfighting machinery within the budgetary constraints. The issue of theatre commands has been mired in controversy within the services, with the Indian Air Force (IAF) objecting to the move. Air chief marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari recently said a separate air defence command would be “counterproductive”.

Gen. Rawat had been working hard to iron out the inter-service differences—a task his successor will have to continue. Like in the US and China, Gen. Rawat planned to have five commands—northern, western, peninsular, air defence and maritime.

The Indian military currently functions under 17 single-service commands. It has eight commands to manage the China front as against a single theatre command of the Chinese military responsible for borders with India. The proposal to set up unified commands came after the 1999 Kargil War, but the concept remained in limbo partly over fears that it would trigger an ugly turf war between the three services. If IAF chief Chaudhari’s remarks are any indicator, the issue of theaterisation still remains hotly debated and polarising within India’s defence establishment.

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