Commandant of the Indian Military Academy

The Commandant of the Indian Military Academy is a post created in 1932 for the purpose of leading the Indian Military Academy in its education of "gentleman cadets". The Commandant must hold a rank of lieutenant general (three star equivalent) or above. There is no minimum nor maximum term of service in this position though in practice commandants have served anywhere from a few months to 4 years in the position.

Commandant of the Indian Military Academy
Incumbent Lieutenant General Nagendra Singh AVSM YSM SM since 01 June 2025
Type	Military
Status	Active
Formation	1932
First holder	Brigadier Lionel Collins

History

General Philip Chetwode chose Brigadier L. P. Collins of the 4th Gurkhas as the first commandant. Collins had the task of first acquiring the campus from the railways in Dehradun, and then converting it into an army training institution, taking ten months to do so.^[1] On 1 October 1932, the raising day, Collins issued a Special Order of the Day "The Indian Military Academy opens with effect from today [...]."^[2]

There were a total of 5 British commandants including Collins, after which Brigadier Thakur Mahadeo Singh was appointed as the first Indian Commandant of IMA in 1947.^[3] Thakur Mahadeo Singh was followed by Major General K. S. Thimayya who became the first IMA Commandant to go on to become the Chief of Army Staff in India. Brigadier M. M. Khanna, who was appointed in 1956, was the first alumnus of IMA to be appointed Commandant.^[3][4]

Following a recommendation in 1983 by the Ministry of Defence, the need was felt that cadets needed to know about application of science in weaponry. Lieutenant General Mathew Thomas and all following commandants took note of these changes and implemented them.^[5] Thomas also suggested a change in syllabus, proposing new computer focused teaching methods as well as further emphasis on advanced training. This included sending cadets to the High Altitude Warfare School and the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, among other things.^[6] Commandant Lieutenant General Himmeth Singh appreciated the difficulties of modern warfare, but emphasized the human factor.^[6] His outline of teaching is as follows:

"[...] the process of understanding the soldier must remain an on-going process and our skills in handling him suitably modified on requirement. It is by this process only that we shall get the best out of out men and above all not be found wanting by the men we command."

— Lt Gen Himmeth Singh^[6]

Commandants

KS Thimayya, Commandant of IMA 1950-1951, went on to become the Chief of Army Staff in India.

Maj Gen K Zorawar Singh (1964 - 1966)

There have been a total of 49 Commandants^[7] so far:

#	Start	End	Rank/Name	References
1	1932	1936	Brig Lionel Peter Collins	[4]
2	1936	1939	Brig Harold Kingsley	[8]
3	1939	1942	Brig KD EL Young	[9]
4	1942	1944	Brig JK Jones	[9]
5	1944	1947	Brig Adrian B. Barltrop	[9]
6	1947	1950	Maj Gen Thakur Mahadeo Singh	[4]
7	1950	1951	Maj Gen KS Thimayya	[9]
8	1951	1953	Maj Gen MS Wadalia	[9]
9	1953	1954	Maj Gen Enaith Habibullah	[9]
10	1954	1956	Brig Apji Randhir Singh	[9]
11	1956	1958	Brig MM Khanna	[4]
12	1958	1959	Brig Gobinder Singh	[9]
13	1960	1962	Brig ND Nanavati	[9]
14	1962	1963	Brig PS Bhagat	[9]
15	1963	1964	Maj Gen SC Pandit	[9]
16	1964	1966	Maj Gen K Zorawar Singh	[10]
17	1966	1967	Maj Gen JT Sataravala	[10]
18	1967	1969	Maj Gen D K Palit	[10]
19	1969	1972	Maj Gen Rajindra Prasad	[10]
20	1972	1974	Maj Gen IC Katoch	[10]
21	1974	1975	Maj Gen BR Prabhu	[10]
22	1975	1976	Maj Gen SC Sinha	[10]
23	1976	1979	Maj Gen GS Rawat	[10]
24	1979	1980	Maj Gen Rajendra Nath	[10]
25	1980	1983	Lt Gen M Thomas	[10]
26	1983	1984	Lt Gen Himmeth Singh	[10]
27	1984	1986	Lt Gen BB Sehgal	[10]
28	1986	1986	Lt Gen SS Brar	[10]
29	1986	1988	Lt Gen VP Gupta	[10]
30	1988	1990	Lt Gen NPS Bal	[10]
31	1990	1991	Lt Gen YS Tomar	[10]
32	1991	1991	Lt Gen MA Zaki	[10]
33	1991	1994	Lt Gen JC Pant	[11]
34	1994	1996	Lt Gen Inder Verma	[11]
35	1996	1998	Lt Gen AS Sandhu	[11]
36	1998	1999	Lt Gen MA Gurbaxani Sahi	[11]
37	1999	2001	Lt Gen Yuvraj Mehta	[12][11]
38	2001	2003	Lt Gen TS Shergill	[13][11]
39	2003	2004	Lt Gen GS Negi	[11]
40	2004	2006	Lt Gen KK Khanna	[14][15]
41	2006	2008	Lt Gen PK Rampal	[15]
42	2008	2011	Lt Gen R. Singh Sujlana	[16]
43	2011	2015	Lt Gen Manvender Singh	[17]
44	2015	2015	Lt Gen Balwant Singh Negi	[18]
45	2016	2016	Lt Gen Satinder Kumar Saini	[19]
46	2016	2017	Lt Gen Santosh Kumar Upadhya	[20]
47	2018	2018	Lt Gen Satinder Kumar Saini	[21]
48	2018	2020	Lt Gen Sanjay Kumar Jha	[22]
49	August 2020	Sept 2020	Lt Gen Jaiveer Singh Negi	[23]
50	October 2020	August 2022	Lt Gen Harinder Singh	[24]
51	September 2022	January 2024	Lt Gen Vijay Kumar Mishra	[25]
52	February 2024	May 2025	Lt Gen Sandeep Jain	[26]
53	June 2025	Till date	Lt Gen Nagendra Singh

See also

• Commandant of the National Defence College
• Commandant of the National Defence Academy
• Commandant of Indian Naval Academy
• Commandant of the Air Force Academy