<span style="color: #222222;">Nepal's Chief of General Staff, Lt General Purna Chandra Thapa has assumed the charge of acting Army Chief. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Outgoing Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Rajendra Chhetri handed over the charge of the top post of the Nepal Army to Lt General Thapa in Kathmandu on Thursday. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">General Chhetri is retiring on the 9th of next month. As per the tradition of Nepalese Army, CoAS takes one month leave before retirement. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Lt General Thapa will formally take over as new Army Chief after the retirement of General Chhetri. Lt General Thapa's name was approved by the cabinet for the post of Chief of Army Staff last month. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He joined Nepalese Army in 1979 as an Officer Cadet and later commissioned as Second Lieutenant into Gorakh Bahadur Battalion in 1980. In his 36 years of military service, Lt General Thapa held various Command and Staff positions at various levels.</span><br />''  <br />