Chief of Staff given powers to mobilise Territorial Army-OxBig News Network

In view of the rising hostilities with Pakistan, the Army Chief has been empowered to muster the Territorial Army, a reserve force, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today chaired a high-level meeting with the top brass of the military to review the security situation along the western border and the operational preparedness of the armed forces.

The minister’s review meeting comes in the backdrop of the layered Indian air defence mechanism having stalled Pakistan’s barrage of missiles and drones. Last night, Pakistan launched these all across the western front, threatening the Indian military and civilian infrastructure.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Anil Chauhan, the Army Chief, Gen Upendra Dwivedi, the Navy Chief, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, the IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, and the Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, were present at the meeting.

The Defence Ministry, exercising powers under the Territorial Army Rule, 1948, issued a notification saying the Army Chief can “call out every officer and every enrolled person of the Territorial Army to provide for essential guard or to be embodied for the purpose of supporting or supplementing the regular Army”.

Of the existing 32 Infantry Battalions of the Territorial Army, the Army Chief has been empowered to embody 14 Infantry Battalions. These will be deployed in areas of the Southern Command, Eastern Command, Western Command, Central Command, Northern Command, South Western Command, Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Army Training Command.

For the Territorial Army units embodied at the behest of other ministries, the cost will be debited from the respective ministries and will not be included in the budget allocation of the Defence Ministry, the notification stated.

This order shall remain in force for three years with effect till February 2028. The Territorial Army is under the administrative control of the Department of Military Affairs, chaired by the Chief of Defence Staff.

The Territorial Army is like reserve force. People enrolled in it can hold regular jobs outside the force and be called in case of an exigency. The Territorial Army can get officers from the regular Army too.

The Territorial Army is headed by a Lieutenant General rank officer.