India's elite counter-terror force NSG has been functioning without a regular military operations commander for the past six months, posing serious questions on the effectiveness of its combat readiness and planning in case of an impending contingency. The special force has recently asked the Ministry of Home Affairs, under which it functions, to intervene and get an officer from the Army on board soon.
The post of Inspector General (Operations) is held by a Major General-rank officer on deputation from the Army, which, sources told PTI, has been vacant since April after incumbent Maj Gen Shashank Mishra moved to his cadre on promotion.
In the NSG hierarchy, the counter-terror and counter-hijack commando units are placed under the overall command of IG (Operations), a post based in the NSG headquarters in Delhi.
The NSG Director General (DG), an officer from the Indian Police Service, is the top commander of the force.
The sources said as no new Maj Gen rank-officer has been posted to the NSG till now, hence another IG of the force (IPS officer) is holding the post in…