GEN SUNDARARAJAN PADMANABHAN, PVSM,AVSM,VSM 1952 – 56 / SHIVAJI

Life of a Legend

GEN SUNDARARAJAN PADMANABHAN, PVSM,AVSM,VSM 1952 – 56 / SHIVAJI

Gen Sundararajan Padmanabhan assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the Chief of Army Staff from 30 Sep 2000 – 31 Dec 2002.

Born in Trivandrum, Kerala on 05 Dec 1940, he is an alumnus of the prestigious Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehra Dun and the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla in Pune. He was commissioned into the Regt of Arty after graduating from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on 13 December 1959.
His illustrious career included several prestigious command, staff and instructional postings, besides having participated in numerous operations. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) at Wellington in 1973 and the National Defence College (NDC) at New Delhi. He commanded an Inj where he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM). He has also spent two tenures as Instructor at the IMA. Within army circles, he is affectionately known as Paddy. He commanded an Indep Arty Bde and a Mtn Bde before attending the prestigious NDC course at Delhi.
He commanded an Inf Bde from Dec 1988 to Feb 1991 at Ranchi, Bihar and Punjab and was then appointed as the GOC of an Inf Div in Punjab from Mar 1991 to Aug 1992. He served as Chief of Staff, 3 Corps from Sep 1992 to Jun 1993. After his promotion to Lt Gen, he was cdr of the 15 Corps in the Kashmir valley from Jul 1993 to Feb 1995. It was during his tenure as the 15 Corps Cdr, that the Army made big gains over the militants in Kashmir and could even scale down its ops. He was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for his services as the 15 Corps Commander.
Gen Padmanabhan held the appt of DGMI after the successful culmination of which, he took over as the GOC in C of the Northern Command at Udhampur on 01 Sep 1996. Before being appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, he was the GOC in C of Southern Command. He retired on 31 December 2002, after completing more than 43 years of distinguished military service.