New Delhi: Southern Army Commander Lieutenant General SK Saini will assume charge as the new vice chief of the Indian Army on January 25, sources in the Indian Army said.
The post of the Vice Chief of Army Staff fell vacant after Lt Gen MM Naravane became the Chief of Army Staff.
This was following the completion of General Bipin Rawat's tenure as army chief on December 31.
An alumnus of Sainik School Kapurthala and the National Defence Academy (NDA), Lt Gen Saini was commissioned into the Jat Regiment in June 1981.
He commanded his battalion (7 Jat), a mountain brigade, a counter insurgency force in J&K, a corps in the western theatre and the Southern Army Command.
Lt Gen Saini has been a weapons instructor in the National Security Guards (NSG) Training Centre, senior directing staff at the National defence College, New Delhi and the Commandant of the Indian Military Academy.
Lt Gen SK Saini is also a graduate of the Army Command and the Staff Course at the Staff College, Camberley in the UK.
He also studied at the Royal College of military Science, Shrivenham, UK.
During his long service, Lt Gen Saini has been conferred with a number of awards, both for gallantry and distinguished service, including the 'Chief of Army Staff Commendation', 'Army Commander Commendation', 'Tudh Seva Medal (YSM)', 'Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM)', and the 'Ati Vishisht Seva Medal'.
Besides this, Lt Gen SK Saini is also the Colonel of the Jat Regiment.
