New Delhi [India], January 18 (ANI): Even as the appointment of the next Chief of Defence Staff is awaited, the Government on Tuesday approved the proposal for appointment of Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Manoj Pande as the next Vice Chief of Army Staff, sources said on Tuesday.

The Eastern Army Commander will be the next Army Vice Chief, sources told ANI.

General Pande would be the successor to Lt Gen CP Mohanty who is scheduled to superannuate on January 31.

General Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in December 1982. He is a graduate of Staff College, Camberley (United Kingdom) and attended the Higher Command Course at Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College (NDC) at Delhi. During his 37 years of distinguished service, Pande has taken active part in Operation Vijay and Operation Parakram.

He commanded an Engineer Regiment along the Line of Control in JammuKashmir, an Engineer Brigade as part of the Strike Corps, an Infantry Brigade along the Line of Control, a Mountain Division in the high-altitude area of western Ladakh and a Corps deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as also in Counter Insurgency Operations area in the northeast.

Lieutenant General Pande has tenanted important staff assignments and was posted as Chief Engineer at the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He was Director-General at Army Headquarters dealing with subjects of discipline, ceremonial and welfare. The post of CDS got vacant after the death of Gen Bipin Rawat in a chopper crash on December 8. ANI)