Sundararajan Padmanabhan (born 5 December 1940 in Trivandrum, Kerala) was the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army Padmanabhan succeeded General V.P. Malik on September 30, 2000. He also served as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee Padmanabhan was schooled at the Rashtriya Indian Military College. In 1956 Padmanabhan joined the National Defence Academy and in 1959 was enrolled into the Regiment of Artillery.