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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The exercise involved multi-faceted maritime operations by synergised employment of amphibious assault ships, surveillance platforms, execution of maritime air strikes and complex manoeuvres at sea. Airborne insertion of marine commandos of Navy and Special Forces of the Army, naval gunfire support, amphibious landing of forces and follow-on operations also formed part of the exercise.

The exercise was conducted under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) with participation of Eastern Naval Command (ENC) and Army Southern Command (SC) involving assets of Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. The exercise involved participation and deployment of all forces of ANC, elements of Amphibious Brigade of Army’s Southern Command along with corvettes, submarine and amphibious landing ships of Navy’s Eastern Fleet and Marine Commandos.  Jaguar Maritime Strike and transport aircraft from Indian Air Force and assets of Coast Guard also participated.

The exercise commenced with maritime strikes by Jaguar aircraft, Para Commandos and Marine Commandos carrying out Combat Free Fall at Car Nicobar with an aim to validate air dominance and maritime strike capability within the area of interest in Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Prior to amphibious landing operations, troops of the Army, Navy and Air Force were mobilised and transported by sea and air in close coordination with all agencies.

As part of shaping the battle field, MARCOS along with their combat loads and Air Droppable Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (ADR) were dropped over the Andaman Sea, enabling the Marine Commandos reach the target with stealth and speed.  MI-17 V5 Armed Helicopters undertook precision targeting against designated enemy assets at sea and on land. The training exercise culminated with the beach landing operations by elements of Amphibious Brigade of Southern Command from INS Jalashwa, Airavat, Guldar and LCU MK-4 class of ships with  600 troops along with tanks, troop carrier vehicles and other heavy weapons. The logistic team demonstrated and validated the joint logistic system and its capabilities to respond to dynamic changes in operational situations and combat missions. The areas in which the exercise was conducted holds strategic significance for India.

The exercise also validated joint capabilities of intelligence gathering from space, air, land and sea based assets, its synthesis, analysis and near real time sharing to achieve battle field transparency for quick decision making. The joint force executed multi-domain, high intensity offensive and defensive manoeuvres in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. The tri-services exercise fine-tuned joint war fighting capabilities and Standard Operating Procedures towards enhancing operational synergy.

In conjunction with Amphex 2021, a joint military exercise Kavach involving the Indian Navy, Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard was held to train for high-density offensive and defensive measures in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal and to achieve maritime domain awareness by employment of a multitude of sensors. In addition, they carried out amphibious landing operations, with helicopters transporting maritime special forces, and finally tactical follow-up operations on land.

The Kavach exercise will also involve coordinated air and sea strikes, coordinated applications of maritime surveillance assets, air defence and landing operations.

In addition to the Kavach exercise, a joint intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) exercise was also run concurrently under the aegis of HQ Integrated Defence Staff. ISR verified the intelligence gathering and information sharing capabilities from space, land, air and sea.

These joint exercises are important from the point of view of Armed Forces moving towards joint commnads. On the anvil is the Maritime Theatre Command (MTC).

The MTC, as currently conceived, carves out an expansive role for the navy. It will subsume into itself all the navy’s current forces and infrastructure, including what is under the tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command.

The MTC will also include the air force bases at Sulur, Jamnagar and Thanjavur, and the amphibious warfare brigade — 108 Infantry Brigade — based in Port Blair.

Along with the Army’s static establishments and training schools in peninsular India, the 83,000-strong navy of today will expand into a 300,000-strong integrated theatre command.

India has a long coastline of about 7,500 Kms and this includes about 1,100 offshore islands. The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of India is enormous and measures approximately 2.01 million sq km. Indian Navy’s role are responsible for the overall maritime security of India, which includes coastal security, Islands and the offshore units. Accordingly, Indian Navy has evolved the capability to achieve superiority in a limited Regional conflict and as a forward-deployed naval power over the years.

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