The Committee comprising the three Vice Chiefs will be looking into only the issue of the involvement of external agencies such as the Ministries of Home and Finance

A committee has been formed to address the issues related to the involvement of external agencies in the creation of new military theatre commands.

"The committee has been formed after the Defence Ministry pointed out the issues that may emerge due to the placement of some paramilitary forces under military theatre commands," government sources said on Saturday.

They added that the Committee comprising the three Vice Chiefs will be looking into only the issue of the involvement of external agencies such as the Ministries of Home and Finance.

"The committee would be looking only at the limited issue of discussing with external agencies about the structure and their respective roles in the formation of theatre commands," they said.

The committee formation comes after questions were raised by the Defence Ministry on the proposed structure of commands during a presentation on the draft cabinet note prepared for the theatre commands.

Sources said that the proposed theatre commands suggested bringing some of the paramilitary forces of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under the theatre commands along with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). The defence functionaries in the meeting felt and suggested that since organisations from outside the Ministry of Defence were involved, there was a need for setting up inter-ministerial committees to discuss the matter with them.

The command structure, sources said, also suggest giving service extension to the proposed theatre commanders who would be above the vice chiefs of the three services and below the chiefs. "Citing foreign models on theatre commands, points were raised as to why geography specific commands were being planned as the formations comprise the elements of all three services," they said.