The XII Corps, or the Konark Corps/Desert Corps, is a corps of the Indian Army and one of the two corps of the Pune-based Southern Command.
Formation With two combat divisions on the order of battle of Southern Command and increasing operational importance of the desert sector, by January 1987, a Corps Headquarters was sanctioned. HQ 12 Corps was raised at Jodhpur during the volatile days of Operation Trident. The corps, which came into existence on the auspicious day of Maha Shivaratri on February 26, 1987 is charged with protection of the desert sectors of the country falling in Rajasthan and Gujarat states and was raised under Lieutenant General A K Chatterjee as the first General Officer Commanding (GOC). Also referred to as Desert Corps within the army, the corps adopted Konark as its formation insignia after the Konark Sun Temple of Puri as a symbolic representation of the radiation of the sun in eight cardinal directions, thereby establishing a spiritual link with the Sun City - Jodhpur.
Order of battle
XII corps currently consists of: 11 Infantry Division (Golden Katar Division) headquartered at Ahmedabad, Gujarat 12 Infantry Division (Battle Axe Division) headquartered at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. 140 Armoured Brigade (includes at least 2 regiments equipped with Arjun Mk 1 MBT) 75 (Independent) Infantry Brigade (Bald Eagle Brigade) at Bhuj, Gujarat. 4 (Independent) Armoured Brigade (Black Mace Brigade) 340 (Independent) Mechanised Brigade (former 34th Independent Infantry Brigade) (Amphibious) 2 Bhairav Battalion (Desert Falcon)
Humanitarian assistance The corps has been intimately involved in providing succor to citizens of India in times of natural calamities such as earthquakes and floods most noteworthy being Bhuj earthquake, floods in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
List of General Officer Commanding
RankNameAppointment DateLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferencesLieutenant GeneralAK ChatterjeeFebruary 1987February 1988Sikh Light InfantryR NarasimhanApril 1988May 1990Jat RegimentYN Sharma May 1990February 1992The GrenadiersMoti DarMarch 1992December 199217th Horse (Poona Horse)HM KhannaJanuary 1994August 19964th Gorkha RiflesPS JoshiSeptember 1996January 19998th Gorkha RiflesMA GurbaxaniJanuary 1999March 2001Rajput RegimentHari PrasadMarch 2001August 2002Maratha Light InfantryRam SubramanyamAugust 2002December 2003Corps of EngineersKS JamwalDecember 2003April 2005Regiment of ArtilleryPR GangadharanApril 2006September 2006Maratha Light InfantrySPS DhillonSeptember 2006January 2008Regiment of ArtillerySN HandaJanuary 2008December 20083rd Gorkha RiflesAM VermaDecember 2008February 2010Rajput RegimentNarendra SinghFebruary 2010June 2011Maratha Light InfantryPhilip Campose3 July 2011August 2012Mechanised Infantry RegimentMan Mohan Singh RaiAugust 2012August 2013Bombay SappersGS KatochAugust 20131 September 2014Jammu and Kashmir RiflesBobby Mathews1 September 201410 October 2015Kumaon RegimentVP SinghOctober 2015November 2016Jammu and Kashmir Light InfantryPodali Shankar RajeshwarNovember 2016November 2017Regiment of ArtilleryRajni Kant JaggaNovember 2017November 20181st Horse (Skinner's Horse)VS Sreenivas19 November 201810 February 2020The Garhwal RiflesAnil Puri11 February 202013 February 2021Corps of EngineersPS Minhas14 February 202106 March 2022Central India HorseRakesh Kapoor07 March 202208 June 202363rd CavalryMohit Malhotra09 June 202316 June 202547th Armoured RegimentAditya Vikram Singh Rathee16 June 2025IncumbentBrigade of the Guards
References