50 yrs on,Admiral Katari’s message lost

The event was hosted by the Indian Maritime Foundation (IMF) based in the city and supported by Admiral L Ramdas,Former CNS and Lalita Ramdas,daughter of Admiral Katari.

Bhagwat said,“One would presume that having entire support of political leadership,with Nehru as Prime Minister and Krishna Menon as Defence Minister,his CNS tenure would have been a song. However,stumbling and obstructive blocks were already in place.”

He said Katari had underscored the importance of a clear line of reporting (by services) to the political authority through appropriate mechanisms. “He cautioned that any move to interpret civil control over military as civil servant or bureaucratic control could only be detrimental to the Armed Forces,” Bhagwat said.

“In this context,it is important to quote him (Katari) on his experiences with the bureaucracy which had stealthily transformed itself from being the secretariat of the Defence Minister to a self empowered and self aggrandizing MoD without any Parliamentary or governmental approval on record or any file,except manipulation between the secretary in the secretariat of the Defence Minister and the Cabinet Secretary by use of semantics taking advantage of the tenure changes of the Chief of Army Staff or the Chairman,Chief of Staffs Committee… to the detriment of interaction between service chiefs,PM and the Defence Minister on issues of vital concern to the service chiefs without meddling by intermediaries who had no operational responsibility or accountability even in the eventuality of lapses on account of incorrect decisions taken in respect of personnel,operations or weapons acquisitions,” Bhagwat,the CNS between 1996 and 1998,said.

In his speech attended by serving and retired Naval officers,Bhagwat credited Admiral Katari with envisioning a blue-water Navy,besides proposing Navy’s Central Design office and the need to induct submarines. “His another important facet was his wholehearted commitment to indigenisation…”