Lieutenant General CP Mohanty on Thursday assumed command of Southern Army on Thursday.
"Lieutenant General CP Mohanty assumed command of Southern Army today with a solemn wreath laying ceremony at the National War Memorial, Pune, wherein he paid tribute to the fallen soldiers, followed by traditional Guard of Honour at Headquarters Southern Command," an official statement said.
An alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) Dehradun and National Defence Academy, Lt Gen Mohanty is a June 1982 batch Infantry Officer from the Rajput Regiment and is currently also the Colonel of the Regiment.
During his distinguished military career, General Mohanty has had vast operational, logistics and administrative experience in varied command and staff appointments. He commanded his Battalion in Jammu and Kashmir and North East, a Mountain Brigade along the Indo-China border and a Mountain Division in Counter Insurgency Operations in North East.
Later he commanded a strategically important Corps in the Eastern Theatre post-Doklam incident and also Uttar Bharat Area at Bareilly.
The General Officer has vast overseas experience of commanding a multi-national Brigade in the Republic of Congo besides being Military Advisor to the Government of Seychelles. He has held important staff appointments in an Armoured Brigade and Military Secretary Branch besides being the Director General of Operational Logistics and Strategic Movement at Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army) at New Delhi.
An M.Phil and Management Degree holder, he is academically inclined and has researched extensively on China, South Asia and North East India making him a domain expert of these regions.
He is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and also an alumnus of prestigious National Defence College, Delhi.
( With inputs from ANI )