New Delhi: The newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) has a plethora of duties and functions, Rajya Sabha was told on February 3 in a written answer by Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik.

Among the duties and functions of the CDS include Principal Military Advisor to the Defence Minister on all Tri-Service matters; function as the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee; administer the Tri-Service organisations, agencies and commands; member of Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Defence Minister.

Among other important functions of CDS are function as the Military Advisor to the Nuclear Command Authority, bring about jointness in operation, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance, of the three services, ensure optimal utilisation of infrastructure and rationalise it through jointness among the Services; implement Five-Year Defence Capital Acquisition Plan and Two-Year roll-on Annual Acquisition Plans, as a follow up of Integrated Capability Development Plan.

The CDS also has to assign inter-services prioritisation to capital acquisition proposals based on the anticipated budget, bring about reforms in the functioning of three Services with the aim to augment combat capabilities of the Armed Forces by reducing wasteful expenditure and his mandate includes “Facilitation of restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/ theatre commands”.