Both serving and retired officers are likely to be considered for CDS appointments.

GG News Bureau,
New Delhi, 17^th  April. According to sources, the government is likely to consider both serving and retired military officers for the position of Chief of Defense Staff.

The post has been vacant since December 8, last year, following the death in an air crash of the country’s first CDS, late General Bipin Rawat.

According to ANI, the government is also expected to announce the next Army chief’s appointment in the coming week, as a decision has already been made.
According to sources, the panel of officers to be considered for the appointment as the next CDS will likely include both serving and retired officers.
According to them, the panel will likely include both three-star and four-star officers.
The appointment of the CDS by the Narendra Modi government within six months of resuming power in 2019 has been hailed as one of the most significant reforms in the country’s higher military structure.
The CDS office and the theatre command that will be established and placed under its command are expected to make it the most powerful military office in the country, with all fighting formations reporting directly to it.
The CDS was named Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs, which is currently led by an Additional Secretary-ranking Lieutenant General.
The CDS also serves as the head of the Integrated Defense Staff, which is currently led by a three-star officer from the Indian Air Force.
The government has also charged the CDS with promoting and ensuring the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme in the defense sector as part of the Make in India initiative.
Gen Rawat used to devote the majority of his time to promoting self-reliance in defense and was also in charge of putting together the positive list of indigenisation, which listed items that were put on the import ban to promote job creation within the country.
The CDS is also the government’s single point of contact for military advice, and he is the most senior bureaucrat in the defense ministry, which has four major departments.