The
Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army. In 1908, the four commands were merged into two Armies: Northern Army and Southern Army. This system persisted until 1920 when the arrangement reverted to four commands again :- Eastern Command, Northern Command, Southern Command and Western Command. The formation reverted to the title Northern Command in November 1945. In 1947, India moved towards partition, with Northern Command HQ at Rawalpindi becoming the Army HQ of the newly formed
Pakistan Army (as
GHQ Pakistan), with the rest of commands passing to the
Indian Army. In 1972, the
Government of India decided to raise a separate command to oversee operations in the northern borders with
Pakistan and
China.
Lt. Gen. P. S. Bhagat was appointed as its GOC-in-C in June 1972. Bhagat's main activities as Army Commander were the improvement of defence and the living and working condition of his troops.
Headquarters for the command was established at
Udhampur,
J&K. The
XIV Corps (
Leh),
XV Corps (
Srinagar) and
XVI Corps (
Nagrota) control the operational units in Northern Command. 71 Independent Sub Area is part of the Command. In 2001–02, during
Operation Parakram the
III Corps and its 57th Mountain Division were temporarily shifted into the command as a reserve. == Structure ==