Chief of Personnel (Indian Navy)

The Chief of Personnel (COP) in the Indian Navy is a senior appointment in the rank of Vice-Admiral. As a Principal Staff Officer (PSO) at Naval Headquarters (NHQ), the COP is responsible for personnel-related matters. The present COP is Vice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla who was appointed on 10 May 2024.

Chief of Personnel
Flag of the Vice Admiral
Incumbent Vice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla since 10 May 2024
Indian Navy
Type	Principal Staff Officer
Abbreviation	C.O.P
Reports to	Chief of the Naval Staff
Seat	Naval Headquarters, New Delhi

History

At the time of Independence of India, the COP was one of five PSOs at Naval headquarters. The appointment was held by an officer of the rank of Captain. On 24 September 1956, the appointment was upgraded to the rank of Commodore (Second Class).^[1][2][3] The directorates of personnel services, training education, medical services, judge advocate general and the supply branch were under the COP.^[4]

In 1965, the appointment was further upgraded to Rear Admiral. Rear Admiral K. R. Nair was the first COP in this rank, when he took over on 17 August 1965.^[5][6][7] The post was further upgraded to Vice Admiral in March 1973.^[8] During this re-organisation, an assistant PSO post was created - Assistant Chief of Personnel (ACOP) - a two-star appointment. In the 1980s, two new directorates were formed under the COP - Financial Planning (Non-public funds) in 1985 and Ex-Servicemen Affairs (DESA) in 1988.^[4]

Organisation

The COP heads the Personnel Branch at the Naval Headquarters. The following Directors General/Controllers/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the COP.^[9]

• Controller of Personnel Services
• Director General Medical Services
  • Assistant Director General Medical Services
• Assistant Chief of Personnel (HRD)
• Assistant Chief of Personnel (Administration and Civilian)
• Judge Advocate General

Appointees

S.No.	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Notes
	Commodore Henry Richmond Inigo-Jones	January 1947	August 1947	Last British appointee.[10]
1	Captain Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman	August 1947	February 1949	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[11]
2	Captain Ram Dass Katari	February 1949	14 December 1951	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[12][13]
3	Captain Benjamin Abraham Samson	14 December 1951	June 1954	[14][15]
4	Commodore Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda	September 1954[n 1]	November 1956	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[1][16]
5	Commodore Gyan Sarup Kapoor	18 February 1957	20 November 1959	[6][17][3]
6	Commodore Kesavapillai Ramkrishnan Nair (first tenure)	20 November 1959	1963	[5][3][7]
7	Commodore Douglas St. John Cameron	1963	June 1965	[18][5]
8	Rear Admiral Kesavapillai Ramkrishnan Nair (second tenure)	June 1965[n 2]	December 1967	[5]
9	Rear Admiral Jal Cursetji	December 1967	20 February 1970	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[19][20][21]
	Commodore Elenjikal Chandy Kuruvila	20 February 1970	October 1970	Officiating.[22]
10	Vice Admiral Rabindra Nath Batra PVSM	October 1970[n 3]	March 1976	[23][24]
11	Vice Admiral Rustom K. S. Ghandhi VrC	March 1976	March 1977	[25]
12	Vice Admiral Swaraj Parkash PVSM, MVC, AVSM	March 1977	March 1979	[26][27]
13	Vice Admiral Manohar Prahlad Awati VrC	1 April 1979	February 1981	[28]
14	Vice Admiral Sardari Lal Sethi AVSM	February 1981	25 February 1982	[29]
15	Vice Admiral Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni AVSM, VSM, NM	16 August 1982	April 1984	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[30][31]
16	Vice Admiral S. M. Gadihoke PVSM	30 June 1984	June 1988	[32][33]
17	Vice Admiral Vasant Laxman Koppikar AVSM	6 July 1988	1992	[34]
18	Vice Admiral R. B. Suri	1992	December 1994
19	Vice Admiral Kailash K. Kohli AVSM	5 January 1995	30 November 1995	[35]
20	Vice Admiral Sushil Kumar UYSM, AVSM, NM	4 December 1995	October 1996	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[36][37]
21	Vice Admiral P. J. Jacob AVSM, VSM	20 November 1996	31 March 1998	[38][39]
22	Vice Admiral John Colin De Silva AVSM	March 1998	March 1999	[40][41]
23	Vice Admiral Arun Prakash AVSM, VrC, VSM	March 1999	3 October 2001	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[42]
24	Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh	3 October 2001	May 2002	[43][44]
25	Vice Admiral Sureesh Mehta AVSM	May 2002	January 2003	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[45]
26	Vice Admiral Yashwant Prasad PVSM, AVSM, VSM	January 2003	October 2003	[46]
27	Vice Admiral Venkat Bharathan AVSM, VSM	October 2003	August 2005	Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.[47]
28	Vice Admiral S. K. Damle	August 2005	July 2007	[48]
29	Vice Admiral D. K. Dewan	July 2007	September 2009	Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.[49]
30	Vice Admiral M. P. Muralidharan AVSM, NM	September 2009	January 2012	[50]
31	Vice Admiral Anurag Thapliyal AVSM	January 2012	March 2013	[51]
32	Vice Admiral Parasurama Naidu Murugesan AVSM, VSM	March 2013	31 July 2015[n 4]	Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.[53]
33	Vice Admiral Abhay Raghunath Karve AVSM	24 August 2015	28 May 2016	Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command.[54]
34	Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla AVSM, VSM, NM	28 May 2016	1 August 2018	Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command.[55]
35	Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar AVSM, VSM	1 August 2018	2 December 2019	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[56]
36	Vice Admiral Ravneet Singh AVSM, NM	2 December 2019	31 May 2021	Later Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff.[57]
37	Vice Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi AVSM, NM	1 June 2021	28 February 2023	Current Chief of the Naval Staff.[58]
38	Vice Admiral Suraj Berry AVSM, NM, VSM	1 April 2023	6 October 2023	Current Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command.[59]
39	Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan AVSM, VSM	6 October 2023	30 April 2024	Current Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.[60]
40	Vice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla AVSM, NM	10 May 2024	Present	Current COP.[61]

Notes

1. Post upgraded to Commodore Second Class from 24 September 1956.^[1]
2. Post upgraded to Rear Admiral 17 August 1965.^[5]
3. Post upgraded to Vice-Admiral in March 1973.^[8]
4. Officiating from March-July 2015.^[52]