Former Army Chief Gen S Padmanabhan passes away

Chennai, Aug 19: General Sundararajan Padmanabhan, Chief of Army Staff from September 30, 2000 to December 31, 2002, passed away in Chennai on Monday. He was 83.

He had also served as the Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee.

Fondly known as ‘Paddy’ in the armed forces, he was an alumnus of the prestigious Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun and National Defense Academy (NDA), Khadkvasala. He was commissioned into the Artillery regiment on December 13, 1959, after passing out from Indian Military Academy (IMA).

He commanded an Independent Light Battalion from August 1975 to July 1976 and later commanded the Gazala Mountain Regiment from September 1977 to March 1980.

General Padmanabhan served as Instructor Gunnery at the School of Artillery in Deolali and also served as Colonel General Staff of a Mountain Division from January 1983 to May 1985.

After commanding an Infantry Brigade from December 1988 to February 1991, he was appointed as the General Officer Commanding of an Infantry Division in Punjab from March 1991 to August 1992.

He served as Chief of Staff, 3 Corps from September 1992 to June 1993. After his promotion to Lieutenant General, he was Commander of the 15 Corps in Kashmir valley from July 1993 to February 1995.

During his tenure as the 15 Corps Commander, the Army made big gains over militants in Kashmir and could even scale down its operations.

General Padmanabhan held the post of Director General of Military Intelligence after the successful culmination of which, he took over as the GOC of the Northern Command at Udhampur on September 1, 1996.

He was also the General Officer Commanding of the Southern Command. He was later appointed as the Chief of Army Staff.