List of Commandants of the National Defence Academy

Commandant of the National Defence Academy
Incumbent Air Marshal Jasjit Singh Kler, VM since 20 June 2016
Type	Military
Status	Active
Residence	Commandant's Residence, National Defence Academy
Seat	National Defence Academy
Formation	1 January 1949
First holder	Major General Thakur Mahadeo Singh, DSO
Deputy	Deputy Commandant: Air Vice Marshal Sandesh Wagle, VM
Website	www.nda.nic.in/men-at-the-helm.html

Firstly, an interim training academy was set up at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), commissioned as Joint Services Wing (JSW) on 1 January 1949. Later National Defence Academy was constructed in Pune and was formally commissioned on 7 December 1954 as the successor to JSW of IMA. The program of JSW was transferred from IMA to NDA.

Joint Services Wing at Indian Military Academy

S.No	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Notes
1	Major General Thakur Mahadeo Singh, DSO	1 January 1949	12 March 1950	First head of JSW at IMA
2	Major General Kodendera Subayya Thimayya, DSO	13 March 1950	16 June 1951	Later served as the Chief of Army Staff of Indian Army
3	Major General MS Wadalia	16 June 1951	6 January 1953
4	Major General E Habibullah	7 January 1953	6 December 1954	Last head of JSW at IMA
[1]

National Defence Academy

S.No	Name	Image	Appointment Date	Left Office	Notes
1	Major General E Habibullah		7 December 1954	26 December 1958	First commandant
2	Rear Admiral B A Samson		27 December 1958	1 January 1963	First non-army and also the first naval officer to be the commandant.
3	Air Vice Marshal K L Sondhi		6 January 1963	25 September 1963	First air force officer to be the commandant.
4	Major General R Bakhshi, MC		26 September 1963	8 August 1966
5	Air Vice Marshal S N Goyal		9 August 1966	18 June 1968
6	Rear Admiral R N Batra		19 June 1968	15 October 1970
7	Major General S D Gupta		16 October 1970	1 January 1973
8	Air Vice Marshal M B Naik		3 January 1973	7 March 1976
9	Rear Admiral M P Awati, VrC		8 March 1976	22 July 1977
10	Major General R K Jasbir Singh		22 July 1977	22 May 1979
11	Air Marshal M J Dotiwalla		9 July 1979	30 June 1982	First three-star air force officer (Air Marshal) to be the commandant.
12	Rear Admiral R P Sawhney		1 July 1982	15 August 1985	First Ex-NDA commandant.
13	Lieutenant General Sami Khan		16 August 1985	2 November 1986	First three-star army officer (Lt Gen) to be the commandant.
14	Lieutenant General K L K Singh		12 December 1986	28 June 1988
15	Air Marshal D S Sabhikhi, AVSM		29 June 1988	31 August 1991
16	Vice Admiral Inderjit Bedi, AVSM		1 September 1991	11 October 1993	First three-star naval officer (V Adm) to be the commandant.
17	Lieutenant General S K Jetley, AVSM, SM		12 October 1993	24 March 1995
18	Air Marshal A S Sethi, ADC		25 March 1995	31 January 1996
19	Air Marshal J S Rai, VM&Bar		0 February 1996	9 January 1997
20	Vice Admiral Arun Prakash, AVSM, VrC, VSM		31 July 1997	19 March 1999	Later served as the Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy
21	Lieutenant General S B S Kochar, PVSM, AVSM		13 April 1999	31 March 2001
22	Air Marshal A K Trikha AVSM, VSM		1 April 2001	31 December 0202
23	Vice Admiral S C S Bangara, PVSM, AVSM		31 December 2002	24 July 2004
24	Lieutenant General A K Chopra, PVSM, AVSM		4 August 2004	30 November 2006
25	Air Marshal T S Randhawa, VM		1 December 2006	31 December 2008
26	Vice Admiral Robin Kumar Dhowan, AVSM, YSM		1 January 2008	22 November 2009	Later served as the Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy.
27	Vice Admiral Satish Soni, AVSM, NM		23 November 2009	31 December 2010	Later served as the FOC-in-C of Southern and Eastern Commands of Indian Navy.
28	Lieutenant General Jatinder Singh, AVSM, SM		1 January 2011	5 July 2012	Removed from the position. Accused of being involved in recruitment scandal.[2]
29	Lieutenant General Ashok Singh, AVSM, SM, VSM		7 August 2012	31 December 2012	Later served as the GOC-in-C of Southern Command of Indian Army.[3]
30	Air Marshal Kulwant Singh Gill, AVSM, YSM, VM		1 January 2013	30 July 2014	Later served as the AOC-in-C of Central Command of Indian Air Force
31	Air Marshal R K S Bhadauria, AVSM, VM [4]		1 August 2014	30 January 2015
31	Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, AVSM, VSM [5]		1 April 2015	To date
[1]

References

1. "Comdts Gallery". National Defence Academy. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
2. "Defence Academy recruitment scam: AK Antony orders shifting of commandant Lt. Gen Jatinder Singh". NDTV. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
3. "Lt Gen Ashok Singh to be Southern Command chief". Times of India. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
4. "Air Marshal R K S Bhadauria takes charge at National Defence Academy". Times of India. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
5. "Vice Admiral Kumar is new NDA commandant". Times of Inida. Retrieved 25 May 2016.