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List of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC): General MM Naravane has been appointed as the 58th Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) to fill in for CDS General Bipin Rawat who was killed in an IAF chopper crash. The position of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) was scrapped after the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). However, due to the untimely demise of CDS General Bipin Rawat, the old system is back until the appointment of the next CDS.
Also Read | CDS Bipin Rawat's helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu: Check the list of people aboard and their designations
List of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)
| S.No. | Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) | Tenure | Defence Branch |
| 1 | General Sir Robert Mcgregor Macdonald Lockhart (KCB CIE MC) | 15 August 1947 - 31 December 1947 | Indian Army |
| 2 | Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst (KBE, CB, AFC, DL) | 31 December 1947 - 15 January 1949 | Indian Air Force |
| 3 | Admiral Sir William Edward Parry (KCB) | 26 January 1950 - 13 October 1951 | Indian Navy |
| 4 | General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa (OBE) | 14 October 1951 - 14 January 1953 | Indian Army |
| 5 | Admiral Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey (KBE CB DSO) | 14 January 1953 - 22 July 1955 | Indian Navy |
| 6 | Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee (OBE) | 22 July 1955 - 8 November 1960 | Indian Air Force |
| 7 | General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya (DSO) | 9 November 1960 - 7 May 1961 | Indian Army |
| 8 | Vice Admiral Ram Dass Katari (PVSM, AVSM) | 7 May 1961 - 4 June 1962 | Indian Navy |
| 9 | Air Marshal Aspy Marwan Engineer (DFC) | 4 June 1962 - 24 July 1964 | Indian Air Force |
| 10 | Vice Admiral Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman | 24 July 1964 - 3 March 1966 | Indian Navy |
| 11 | General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri (OBE) | 3 March 1966 - 7 June 1966 | Indian Army |
| 12 | Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh (DFC) | 7 June 1966 - 15 July 1969 | Indian Air Force |
| 13 | Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji | 15 July 1969 - 24 February 1970 | Indian Navy |
| 14 | Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw (MC) | 24 February 1970 - 15 January 1973 | Indian Army |
| 15 | General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor (PVSM) | 15 January 1973 - 1 January 1975 | Indian Army |
| 16 | Air Chief Marshal Om Prakash Mehra (PVSM) | 1 January 1975 - 31 January 1976 | Indian Air Force |
| 17 | Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli (PVSM) | 31 January 1976 - 29 February 1976 | Indian Navy |
| 18 | General Tapishwar Narain Raina (MVC) | 29 February 1976 - 31 May 1978 | Indian Army |
| 19 | Air Chief Marshal Hrushikesh Moolgavkar (PVSM, MVC) | 31 May 1978 - 30 August 1978 | Indian Air Force |
| 20 | Admiral Jal Cursetji (PVSM) | 30 August 1978 - 1 March 1979 | Indian Navy |
| 21 | General Om Prakash Malhotra (PVSM) | 1 March 1979 - 31 May 1981 | Indian Army |
| 22 | Air Chief Marshal Idris Hasan Latif (PVSM) | 31 May 1981 - 30 August 1981 | Indian Air Force |
| 23 | Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira (PVSM, AVSM) | 30 August 1981 - 26 February 1982 | Indian Navy |
| 24 | General Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao (PVSM) | 1 March 1982 - 31 July 1983 | Indian Army |
| 25 | Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh (PVSM, AVSM, VM) | 31 July 1983 - 3 September 1984 | Indian Air Force |
| 26 | Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson (PVSM, AVSM) | 5 September 1984 - 30 November 1984 | Indian Navy |
| 27 | General Arun Shridhar Vaidya (PVSM, MVC & Bar, AVSM) | 1 December 1984 - 31 January 1986 | Indian Army |
| 28 | Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani (PVSM, AVSM) | 1 February 1986 - 30 November 1987 | Indian Navy |
| 29 | Air Chief Marshal Denis La Fontaine (PVSM, AVSM, VSM) | 1 December 198 - 31 July 1988 | Indian Air Force |
| 30 | Admiral Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni (PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM) | 1 July 1988 - 30 November 1990 | Indian Navy |
| 31 | Air Chief Marshal Surinder Mehra (PVSM, AVSM, VM) | 1 December 1990 - 31 July 1991 | Indian Air Force |
| 32 | General Sunith Francis Rodrigues (PVSM, VSM) | 1 August 1991 - 30 June 1993 | Indian Army |
| 33 | Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas (PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM) | 1 July 1993 - 30 September 1993 | Indian Navy |
| 34 | General Bipin Chandra Joshi (PVSM, AVSM) | 1 October 1993 - 19 November 1994 | Indian Army |
| 35 | Air Chief Marshal Swaroop Krishna Kaul (PVSM, MVC) | 20 November 1994 - 31 December 1995 | Indian Air Force |
| 36 | Admiral Vijai Singh Shekhawat (PVSM, AVSM, VrC) | 31 December 1995 - 30 September 1996 | Indian Navy |
| 37 | General Shankar Roychowdhury (PVSM) | 1 January 1996 - 30 September 1997 | Indian Army |
| 38 | Air Chief Marshal Satish Sareen (PVSM, AVSM, VM) | 1 October 1997 - 31 December 1998 | Indian Air Force |
| 39 | General Ved Prakash Malik (PVSM, AVSM) | 1 January 1999 - 30 September 2000 | Indian Army |
| 40 | Admiral Sushil Kumar (PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM) | 1 October 2000 - 29 December 2001 | Indian Navy |
| 41 | General Sundararajan Padmanabhan (PVSM, AVSM, VSM) | 30 December 2001 - 31 December 2002 | Indian Army |
| 42 | Admiral Madhvendra Singh (PVSM, AVSM) | 31 December 2002 - 31 July 2004 | Indian Navy |
| 43 | Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy (PVSM, AVSM, VM & bar) | 31 July 2004 - 29 December 2004 | Indian Air Force |
| 44 | General Nirmal Chander Vij (PVSM, UYSM, AVSM) | 30 December 2004 - 30 January 2005 | Indian Army |
| 45 | Admiral Arun Prakash (PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM) | 31 January 2005 - 31 October 2006 | Indian Navy |
| 46 | Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi (PVSM, AVSM, VM) | 31 October 2006 - 31 March 2007 | Indian Air Force |
| 47 | General Joginder Jaswant Singh (PVSM, AVSM, VSM) | 31 March 2007 - 30 September 2007 | Indian Army |
| 48 | Admiral Sureesh Mehta (PVSM, AVSM) | 30 September 2007 - 31 August 2009 | Indian Navy |
| 49 | General Deepak Kapoor (PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM) | 31 August 2009 - 31 March 2010 | Indian Army |
| 50 | Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik (PVSM, VSM) | 31 March 2010 - 30 July 2011 | Indian Air Force |
| 51 | Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma (PVSM, AVSM) | 30 July 2011 - 31 August 2012 | Indian Navy |
| 52 | Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne (PVSM, AVSM, VM) | 31 August 2012 - 31 December 2013 | Indian Air Force |
| 53 | General Bikram Singh (PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM) | 31 December 2013 - 31 July 2014 | Indian Army |
| 54 | Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha (PVSM, AVSM, VM) | 31 July 2014 - 31 December 2016 | Indian Air Force |
| 55 | Admiral Sunil Lanba (PVSM, AVSM) | 31 December 2016 - 31 May 2019 | Indian Navy |
| 56 | Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa (PVSM, AVSM, YSM, VM) | 31 May 2019 - 27 September 2019 | Indian Air Force |
| 57 | General Bipin Rawat (PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM) (1958–2021) | 27 September 2019 - 31 December 2019 | Indian Army |
| 58 | General Manoj Mukund Naravane (PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC) | 15 December 2021 - Present | Indian Army |
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)
The post of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee was established on 15 August 1947 to advise the Minister of Defence and the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on all military-related matters.
The first Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) was General Sir Robert Mcgregor Macdonald Lockhart while General K. M. Cariappa was the first Indian to serve on the post. He was appointed as the chairman on 14 October 1951.
Post the Kargil War, the Kargil Review Committee suggested the creation of the CDS citing the lack of communication between the three service branches. The suggestion was rejected by the military officials and a compromise was reached with the office of COSC who was responsible for inter-service synergy but did not wield any power.
In December 2018, the heads of the three services finally agreed on a permanent chief of staff committee, and the matter was sent to the Ministry of Defence for consideration.
In his 2019 Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the creation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) post, replacing the Chairman of COSC. The CDS would be a four-star General who will head the three services chiefs and will act as a single-point military adviser to the Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of India.
General Bipin Rawat was appointed as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on 31 December 2019. On 8 December 2021, he was killed in an IAF chopper crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor, along with his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others. The lone survivor of the crash, Group Captain Varun Singh succumbed to injuries on 15 December 2021.
Until the appointment of the next CDS, General MM Naravane will head the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) and the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), who used to report to the CDS, will report to General Naravane for the time being.
Also Read | List of Indian Chief of Army Staff (1947-2021)
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