Lieutenant General SK Saini took over as 46th Commandant of Indian Military Academy

Lieutenant General SK Saini in third week of May 2016 took over as the 46th Commandant of the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun.

Who is Lieutenant General SK Saini?

• Lt Gen Saini is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Indian Military Academy (IMA).

• He was commissioned into the 7th Battalion of the Jat Regiment in June 1981.

• He has held various staff, instructional and command appointments.

• He has commanded his battalion, a mountain brigade and a counter insurgency force in Jammu & Kashmir.

• His staff experience includes appointment of Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade, GSO1 (Operations) of an Infantry Division, BGS of a Corps, Director, Military Operations and other key appointments at the Army Head Quarters.

• He has also been senior directing staff at the National Defence College (NDC) and a weapon instructor in the National Security Guards Training Centre.

• He is a graduate of the Army Command and staff course at the Staff College, Camberley, in the UK and has studied at the Royal College of Military Science, Shrivenham, UK.  

• He has been awarded including the Chief of Army Staff Commendation, the Army Commander Commendation, the Yudh Seva Medal and the Vishisht Seva Medal.

About Indian Military Academy

• The Indian Military Academy, Dehradun is the officer training Academy of the Indian Army.

• It was established in 1932.

• The academy is located in the foothills of the Himalayas, about 8 km west of Dehradun in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

• Brigadier L.P. Collins was the first Commandant of IMA.

• Brigadier Thakur Mahadeo Singh, DSO, was appointed the first Indian Commandant of the academy.

• Brigadier M.M. Khanna, MVC was the first IMA alumni to be appointed Commandant of the IMA.