Lieutenant General CP Mohanty assumed command of the Southern Army on Thursday with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial, Pune, wherein he paid tributes to the fallen soldiers, followed by a traditional Guard of Honour at Headquarters Southern Command.

An alumnus of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC),Dehradun and National Defence Academy, Lt Gen Mohanty is a June 1982 batchinfantry officer from the Rajput Regiment and is currently also the Colonel ofthe Regiment.

During his distinguished military career, Lt Gen Mohanty hashad vast operational, logistics and administrative experience in varied commandand staff appointments. He commanded his battalion in Jammu and Kashmir andNorth East, a Mountain Brigade along the Indo-China border and a MountainDivision in counter-insurgency operations in North East. Later, he commanded astrategically important Corps in the eastern theatre post-Doklam incident andalso Uttar Bharat Area at Bareilly.

The General Officer has vast overseas experience of commandinga multinational brigade in the Republic of Congo besides being a militaryadvisor to the Government of Seychelles. He has held important staffappointments in an armored brigade and military secretary branch besides beingthe director-general of operational logistics and strategic movement at theIntegrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army) at New Delhi.

An MPhil and management degree holder, he is academicallyinclined and has researched extensively on China, South Asia and North East Indiamaking him a domain expert of these regions. He is a graduate of DefenceServices Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and also an alumnus of prestigiousNational Defence College, Delhi.