New Delhi, July 31 : Major General P. Mohapatra, who is also the Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Signals, has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and would hence be Signal Officer-in-Chief.

He would replace Lieutenant General SP Sree Kumar, who superannuated today.

As Signal Officer-in-Chief, he will be the head of the Corps of Signals and be responsible to oversee the entire Communication & IT requirements of the Indian Army.

Prior to assuming the present appointment, he served as Additional Directorate General of Signal Intelligence and Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff.

Lieutenant General Mohapatra was commissioned into the Corps on November 14, 1971, and had participated in the Indo – Pak war in the Northern Theatre.

An alumnus of National Defence Academy and Defence Services Staff College, he has done the prestigious Higher Command Course and also attended the ''National Security and Strategic Studies Course'' at the National Defence College, New Delhi.

Lieutenant General Mohapatra has had an illustrious career spanning over three decades and tenanted some very prestigious Command and Staff appointments. He has commanded an Independent Armoured Brigade Signal Company, an Armored Divisional Signal Regiment and was Chief Signal Officer of a Strike Corps during Operation Parakram.

Further, he has considerable operational experience having participated in Operation Hifazat in Nagaland and Operation Rakshak in Jammu and Kashmir during an extremely critical phase of insurgency.

Lieutenant General Mohapatra has also been a Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade, Colonel General Staff in College of Combat (now Army War College), Colonel Administration of an Infantry Division and Brigadier General Staff at the Army Training Command (ARTRAC).

At Integrated Headquarter of Ministry of Defence (Army), he has been General Staff Officer 1st grade of the Army in Military Operations Directorate and Colonel MS in Military Secretary''s Branch. (ANI)