Monday, April 16, 2018

A Tribute to Lt Gen S L Malhotra AVSM, PVSM (Retd)

                                                 
                                                     Lt. Gen S.L. Malhotra, PVSM, AVSM (Retd.)

15 April 2018, Sunday: A condolence meeting was held at the Signals Vihar Community Hall in Mhow to pay tribute to the late Lt. Gen S.L. Malhotra, PVSM, AVSM (Retd.) who had passed away recently. Many eminent Army officers paid rich tributes to the departed General officer and spoke about his greatness as a military commander and as a noble human being who cared for his subordinates and colleagues.
Among those who paid tribute to him included Lt Gen Rajiv Chopra the Commandant of the Infantry School Mhow and Colonel Commandant of the Madras Regiment, previous Commandant of the Army War College Lt Gen Vijay Madan (Retd) and former Commandant of the Infantry School Mhow Lt Gen Sher Amir Singh (Retd). Besides them the regimental colleagues of Lt Gen Malhotra including Lt Gen MM Walia (Retd), Brig D K Rastogi (Retd), Brig Avtar Singh (Retd) also paid rich tributes to their former Commanding Officer. The Chairman of the Signals Vihar Cooperative Housing Society (where he built his house and settled after retirement) Col P C Ohri (Retd) also paid tributes to him. His daughter Ms Sadhna Pasricha and his grandson Chirag Malhotra also spoke about their father and grandfather respectively and shared with us a very human portrait of Gen Malhotra. The function was conducted with elegance by his grandaughter Anisha Malhotra Singh. 
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The professional and career details of Lt Gen S L Malhotra, PVSM, AVSM (Retd) are as follows. Thanks to the Malhotra family for providing these details. 
Lt Gen S L Malhotra was commissioned in the 4th Battalion of the Madras Regiment (Wallajahbad Light Infantry) June 1950. In his illustrious career of 36 years he had the honour of commanding his battalion in erstwhile East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War in December 1971. The Battalion performed exceedingly well during the war and many personnel were awarded for bravery.

After commanding a Brigade and a Division he became the Commandant of the Infantry School Mhow. He was the founding father of the Army Marksmanship Unit at Mhow, which has won a large number of medals for India in international competitions including the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. He was the Colonel of the Madras Regiment and was awarded the AVSM in 1979 and the PVSM in 1983.

He was serving as the Director General NCC at the time of his retirement in 1986. As DG NCC he was one of the pioneers for launching the Microlight flying program in India and he was instrumental in starting the NCC World Youth Exchange Programme with several countries.He was also the Colonel of the Madras Regiment. 
After retiring from the Army he served as Dy. Managing Director of TATA Exports and was on the Board of Directors of TATA International. He was the Chairman of the Leather Council of India for 5 years and also served as an advisor to the Punjab Government on Leather Exports.

He is survived by his wife Mrs Pushpa Malhotra, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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Tribute published in Nai Dunia (Indore-Mhow edition 16 April 2018)



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