# Chief of the Naval Staff (India)

The Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) is a statutory office held by the professional head of the Indian Navy (IN), the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces. Customarily held by a four-star admiral, the CNS is the senior-most operational officer of the IN, tasked with the roles of overseeing the force's overall functioning during states of peace and conflict, along with the realization of India's strategic maritime objectives, namely, the defence of the country's sovereignty against maritime threats and the security of international sea lines in the Indo-Pacific.
Being a permanent member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) and the National Security Council (NSC), the CNS also bears the responsibility of advising the nation's civilian leadership i.e., the Government of India on all matters privy to the IN.
Statutorily, the CNS ranks 12th-overall in the Indian order of precedence, and is the IN's status-equivalent of the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of the Army Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff - all three positions of which are also occupied by four-star officers from the armed forces.

## Description
### Roles and responsibilities

Seated at Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Navy) (IHQ of MoD (Navy)), stationed in New Delhi, the CNS is the senior-most operational officer of the IN, and is tasked with the following:
* Advising the Central Government on all matters privy to the IN.
* Commitment to enhancing the force's capabilities towards sustaining combat readiness and operational effectiveness during periods of peace and conflict.
* Coordinating various components of the IN towards the protection-cum-realization of the nation's maritime sovereignty during states of armed conflict or war.
* Providing direction towards the overall functioning of the organization's facets, such as command, control, administration and strategy.
* Convening courts-martial at the behest of the Central Government to review cases of misconduct during peace and wartime.
* Reviewing the judicial sentencing and pleas of officers convicted of professional misconduct whilst in service.
In addition to these responsibilities, the CAS is also a permanent member of:
* Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)
* National Security Council (NSC)
* Defence Planning Committee (DPC)
* Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)
The office's eminence in the aforementioned groups thus grants the appointee with the role to advise the Minister of Defence (Raksha Mantri or RM) on the affairs related to the IN's functioning and the promotion of an comprehensive integrated planning policy with respect to the affairs of tri-service integration, doctrinal strategy, capability development, defence acquisition and infrastructure.

### Structure

As the professional head of the force, the CNS is assisted by one subordinate officer and three principal staff officers, namely:
* Subordinate:
** Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS)
* Principal Staff Officers:
** Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS)
** Chief of Materiel (COM)
** Chief of Personnel (COP)

### Promotion

Initially, beginning in the pre-independence era, until 1968, the office of CNS was held by a three-star vice admiral. However, the office's rank-specifications was raised to the four-star rank of admiral when then-CNS Vice Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji was promoted in March 1968; every CNS-appointee since then has been an admiral.
The move to appoint a new designate to the position usually begins several months before the change-of-command, wherein the Ministry of Defence (MoD) reviews the résumés of the IN's senior-most vice admirals, which regularly includes the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS), the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chiefs (FOC-in-C) of the force's three combatant commands and the Commander-in-Chiefs (C-in-C) of India's two integrated military commands.
Appointments to the position are made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) - comprising the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence, upon recommendation from IHQ of MoD (Navy), whereupon the designated appointee is subsequently promoted to the rank of admiral.

### Tenure

According to Part III of the IN's Regulations for the Navy, 1991 - a CNS-appointee reaches superannuation upon the completion of three years in the position or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier. However, an appointee may also be dismissed from office by the President of India before the conclusion of the tenure under the Section 15(1) of the Navy Act, 1957 and Article 310 of the Constitution. This provision was used by then-President K. R. Narayanan to dismiss then-CNS Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat from service in December 1998.
Between 1950 and 1990, the senior-most vice admirals in the IN's command cadre have customarily been appointed as CNS, even under the event of an abrupt stoppage during the incumbent's tenure - by termination or resignation; however, this tradition has since been broken thrice: first in 1990, when then CNS-designate Vice Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas superseded one senior officer, and again in 2014 and 2016, when then-Vice Admirals Robin K. Dhowan and Karambir Singh were appointed to the office superseding one senior officer, respectively.IAF
Additionally, a CNS-appointee is also eligible to be selected for the position of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), in accordance with the Naval Ceremonial, Conditions of Service and Miscellaneous (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 - which prescribes that the designated nominee, in this case the CNS, must be under the age of 62 at the time of appointment as CDS; as of 2024, no CNS-appointee has ever been appointed as CDS. Although the office of CDS was originally created in 2019, the MoD had originally planned for it to be created in 2001 with then-CNS Admiral Sushil Kumar as its first appointee; however, the plan failed to materialize over interservice rivalry and Kumar never became the CDS.

## History
### Dominion-era (1947-1950)

Following independence and the subsequent partition of the subcontinent, the RIN was bifurcated into two new entities: the successor Royal Indian Navy (RIN) - responsible for the Dominion of India, and the newly-formed Royal Pakistan Navy (RPN) - responsible for the Dominion of Pakistan. At the time, the RIN's commanding officer was designated the Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy." On 21 June 1948, the title of "Chief of the Naval Staff" was added, On 21 June 1948, the officer was re-designated as Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy (CNS/C-in-C, RIN) - as a measure to reflect uniformity with the C-in-Cs of the post-independence Indian Army and the Royal Indian Air Force.
Upon India's establishment as a republic on 26 January 1950, the RIN was rechristened as the Indian Navy (IN), dropping the Royal-prefix; subsequently, the position's designation was again modified to Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy (CNS/C-in-C, IN).

### Republic-era (1950-present)

In 1955, the designation of the office was shortened to simply to Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) through the Commanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act, 1955; as a result of the Act, the tenure of the then-serving C-in-C - Admiral Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey, continued under the new designation. Between 1950 and 1958, the office was officiated by flag officers seconded from the RN, which ceased with the appointment of Vice Admiral Ram Dass Katari in April 1958 - which thus made him the first Indian officer to be promoted to the rank, and subsequently, the first Indian-origin chief of the IN. Ten years later, in March 1968, the rank-specifications for the office was raised to the rank of admiral, with the promotion of then-CNS Vice Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji.
In December 1998, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, the then-incumbent CNS and Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (Chairman COSC), was abruptly dismissed from office, which made him the only CNS-appointee - and the only-ever military chief in the Indian Armed Forces to be relieved from service to date.

## Appointees
### Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy (1947–1948)

| No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Ref. |
| 1 | | Hall, John Talbot SavignacRear Admiral John Talbot Savignac Hall CIE (1896–1964) | 15 August 1947 | 20 June 1948 | 310 days | |

### Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy (1948–1950)

| No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Ref. |
| 1 | | Hall, John Talbot SavignacRear Admiral John Talbot Savignac Hall CIE (1896–1964) | 21 June 1948 | 14 August 1948 | 54 days | |
| 2 | | Parry, William EdwardVice Admiral Sir William Edward Parry KCB (1893–1972) | 14 August 1948 | 25 January 1950 | 1 year, 164 days | . |

### Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy (1950–1955)

| No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
| 2 | | Parry, William EdwardVice-Admiral Sir William Edward Parry KCB (1893–1972) | 26 January 1950 | 13 October 1951 | 1 year, 260 days |
| 3 | | Pizey, Charles Thomas MarkAdmiral Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey KBE, CB, DSO & Bar (1899–1993) | 13 October 1951 | 31 March 1955 | 3 years, 169 days |

### Chief of the Naval Staff (1955–present)

| No. | Name | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
| 1 | Pizey, CharlesAdmiral Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey KBE, CB, DSO & Bar (1899–1993) | 1 April 1955 | 21 July 1955 | 111 days |
| 2 | Carlill, Stephen HopeVice-Admiral Sir Stephen Hope Carlill KBE, CB, DSO & Bar (1902–1996) | 21 July 1955 | 21 April 1958 | 2 years, 274 days |
| 3 | Katari, Ram DassVice-Admiral Ram Dass Katari (1911–1983) | 22 April 1958 | 4 June 1962 | 4 years, 43 days |
| 4 | Soman, Bhaskar SadashivVice-Admiral Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman (1913–1995) | 4 June 1962 | 3 March 1966 | 3 years, 272 days |
| 5 | Chatterji, Adhar KumarAdmiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji (1914–2001) | 3 March 1966 | 28 February 1970 | 3 years, 362 days |
| 6 | Nanda, Sardarilal MathradasAdmiral Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda PVSM, AVSM (1915–2009) | 28 February 1970 | 28 February 1973 | 3 years |
| 7 | Kohli, Sourendra NathAdmiral Sourendra Nath Kohli PVSM (1916–1997) | 1 March 1973 | 29 February 1976 | 2 years, 365 days |
| 8 | Cursetji, JalAdmiral Jal Cursetji PVSM (1919–1991) | 1 March 1976 | 1 March 1979 | 3 years |
| 9 | Pereira, Ronald LynsdaleAdmiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira PVSM, AVSM (1923–1993) | 1 March 1979 | 28 February 1982 | 2 years, 364 days |
| 10 | Dawson, Oscar StanleyAdmiral Oscar Stanley Dawson PVSM, AVSM, ADC (1923–2011) | 1 March 1982 | 30 November 1984 | 2 years, 274 days |
| 11 | Tahiliani, Radhakrishna HariramAdmiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani PVSM, AVSM (1930–2015) | 1 December 1984 | 30 November 1987 | 2 years, 364 days |
| 12 | Nadkarni, Jayant GanpatAdmiral Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM, ADC (1931–2018) | 1 December 1987 | 30 November 1990 | 2 years, 364 days |
| 13 | Ramdas, LaxminarayanAdmiral Laxminarayan Ramdas PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC (1933–2024) | 1 December 1990 | 30 September 1993 | 2 years, 303 days |
| 14 | Shekhawat, Vijai SinghAdmiral Vijai Singh Shekhawat PVSM, AVSM, VrC, ADC (born 1937) | 1 October 1993 | 30 September 1996 | 2 years, 365 days |
| 15 | Bhagwat, VishnuAdmiral Vishnu Bhagwat PVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1939) | 1 October 1996 | 30 December 1998 | 2 years, 90 days |
| 16 | Kumar, SushilAdmiral Sushil Kumar PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM, ADC (1940–2019) | 30 December 1998 | 29 December 2001 | 2 years, 364 days |
| 17 | Singh, MadhvendraAdmiral Madhvendra Singh PVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1942) | 29 December 2001 | 31 July 2004 | 2 years, 215 days |
| 18 | Prakash, ArunAdmiral Arun Prakash PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC (born 1944) | 31 July 2004 | 31 October 2006 | 2 years, 215 days |
| 19 | Mehta, SureeshAdmiral Sureesh Mehta PVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1947) | 31 October 2006 | 31 August 2009 | 2 years, 304 days |
| 20 | Verma, Nirmal KumarAdmiral Nirmal Kumar Verma PVSM, AVSM (born 1950) | 31 August 2009 | 31 August 2012 | 3 years |
| 21 | Joshi, Devendra KumarAdmiral Devendra Kumar Joshi PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM, ADC (born 1954) | 31 August 2012 | 26 February 2014 | 1 year, 179 days |
| – | Dhowan, RobinVice Admiral Robin K. Dhowan PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC (born 1954) Acting | 26 February 2014 | 17 April 2014 | 50 days |
| 22 | Dhowan, RobinAdmiral Robin K. Dhowan PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC (born 1954) | 17 April 2014 | 31 May 2016 | 2 years, 44 days |
| 23 | Lanba, SunilAdmiral Sunil Lanba PVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1957) | 31 May 2016 | 31 May 2019 | 3 years |
| 24 | Admiral Karambir Singh PVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 1959) | 31 May 2019 | 30 November 2021 | 2 years, 183 days |
| 25 | Admiral R. Hari Kumar PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC (born 1962) | 30 November 2021 | 30 April 2024 | 2 years, 152 days |
| 26 | Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi PVSM, AVSM, NM (born 1964) | 30 April 2024 | Incumbent | 252 days |