Vijay Kumar Singh General Vijay Kumar Singh , PVSM , AVSM , YSM , ADC ( born 10 May 1951 ) is a retired Indian Army officer who served as the 26th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army . He was the first trained commando to be promoted general and was also the first serving Indian military chief to take the Government to court . Early life and education . Vijay Kumar Singh comes from Bapora village in Bhiwani district in the Indian state of Haryana . He is a third - generation officer . His father was a Colonel in the Indian Army and grandfather a Junior Commissioned Officer ( JCO ) . Singh was educated at Birla Public School , Pilani , Rajasthan . Military career . Singh was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of The Rajput Regiment ( Kali Chindi ) on 14 June 1970 . He then commanded the same unit when it was positioned along the Line of Control with Pakistan . He graduated from the Defence Services Staff College as an honours graduate of the United States Army Infantry School , a graduate of the Rangers Course at Fort Benning and the United States Army War College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania . In the US for the Rangers course , he came first in combat operations . Singh is experienced in counter insurgency operations and high altitude operations . He has also seen action in the 1971 Bangladesh war . During his career he has served in various positions : Singh was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal ( AVSM ) for distinguished service while commanding a counter - insurgency force . He became Chief of Army Staff on 31 March 2010 , and was the first commando to achieve that position . Towards the end of his career there was a dispute regarding the incumbent ' s date of birth and this cause Vijay Singh to become the first serving officer of the Indian Army to take the government to court . As a consequence of an error made when he had enrolled with the National Defence Academy in 1965 , official records mis - stated the year in which he was born . He withdrew the writ in February 2012 when , according to " The Hindu " , the Supreme Court " refused to intervene " . The Court noted that there was no dispute regarding his actual date of birth and that the matter being contested was regarding how that had been recorded . It ruled that Singh had on three occasions accepted the misrecorded date . The BBC noted in 2012 that defence experts considered a drive to modernise the Indian army had suffered from " a lack of planning and acrimony between the military and the defence ministry " . This report followed an interview given by Singh in March 2012 that had caused a political row . Singh said that over a year earlier he had reported to A . K . Antony . the defence minister , that he had been offered a bribe of 2 . 7 million if the army bought several hundred sub - standard vehicles . Antony issued a rebuttal to the interview , saying that he had requested at the time that Singh provide a written report regarding the incident and that this had never been submitted . Two days after the interview with Singh , correspondence between the general and the prime minister , Manmohan Singh , was leaked . This criticised the standard of India ' s defences and caused a further political row . Retirement . Singh retired as Chief of Army Staff on 31 May 2012 . He was succeeded by General Bikram Singh . Subsequent to his retirement , Singh showed support for the anti - corruption movement of which Anna Hazare is a figurehead . Amid speculations , Singh has ruled out any chances of joining BJP . Honours and awards . On 11 March 2011 , Singh was inducted into the United States Army War College ( Class of 2001 graduate ) International Fellows Hall of Fame . He is the 33rd International Fellow and the first Indian Armed Forces officer to be inducted .