Vice Admiral M.P. Muralidharan is appointed the next Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard

government on 5 January 2012 cleared two key military appointments. Vice Admiral M.P. Muralidharan took charge as the 19th Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard. The position of Coast Guard Chief lay vacant since Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra was promoted as the Eastern Naval Command chief in October 2011.

Lt-General Sanjeev Chachra was appointed the next Army military secretary.

M.P. Muralidharan

Prior to taking over as the Director-General, Vice Admiral Muralidharan was the Chief of Personnel at the Integrated Headquarters (IHQ), Ministry of Defence. Earlier he had served as the first Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned into the Navy in 1975. During the last three and half decades, he held several significant operational and staff appointments.

His Operational appointments include command of Indian Naval Ships Chatak, Sharda and Ranvijay, Fleet Operations Officer of Western Fleet and Principal Director of Naval Operations at Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Navy).

His staff appointments include Director of Indian Naval Tactical Evaluation Group, Naval Assistant to FOC-in-C (West) and to the Chief of the Naval Staff, Naval Attache at Moscow, Flag Officer Sea Training, Chief of Staff of Western Naval Command, Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra and Gujarat Area. He was also the first Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala.

The Admiral is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 Jan 1975. A Navigation and Direction Specialist, he is also a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Willington.

Lt-General Sanjeev Chachra

Lt-Gen Chachra is to take over as the new military secretary when Lt-Gen G M Nair retires on 31 January 2012. The military secretary's post gained some prominence after a previous incumbent Avadhesh Prakash faced a court martial in the infamous Sukna land scam case as also due to the ongoing controversy over Army chief General V K Singh's actual date of birth.