During the operations against Pakistan in December, 1971, Wing Commander Gursharan Singh was serving as the Chief Technical Officer of an Operational Wing. His sustained work resulted in a high rate of fighter and bomber serviceability. With complete disregard to personal comfort and undeterred by multifarious maintenance problems, he worked round the clock to produce excellent results.

Throughout, Wing Commander Gursharan Singh displayed professional skill, leadership and devotion to duty.

Wing Commander Gursharan Singh has been the Chief Technical officer of an operational Wing since May, 1968. From the day of his arrival, this officer has shouldered his responsibility with commendable degree of self confidence and applied himself with exemplary energy, enthusiasm and devotion to duty to the complex task of maintaining a variety of aircraft with limited manpower and material.

By setting up the maintenance control room. Wing Commander Gursharan Singh has been able to improve the utilization of the technical resources and achieve a commendable co-ordination of the technical equipment services of the Wing. These achievements have contributed substantially towards the successful accomplishment of operational and training tasks assigned to the Wing, through enhanced aircraft serviceability.

218640 Sergeant Karunakara Gangadharan is serving with an operational Wing.

He has shown a commendable degree of professional skill, zeal and energy in the manufacture and repair of urgently required Ground Equipment for aircraft servicing. He reclaimed some aircraft spares which were in short supply. His contribution in the fabrication of special adapters for carriage of certain new type of armament stores on Bomber aircraft required for operational mission, during the Indo-Pak operations was outstanding.

For his outstanding service of a high order and professional skill, Sergeant Karunakaran Gangadharan is awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal.

Squadron Leader Sivaswamy Kailasam (9322) was commissioned in the Administrative branch of the IAF on 27 Mar 65. During his tenure of 16 years he had handled a variety of assignments within the branch and has held with distinction a number of important positions like Instructor, Air Traffic Control Officer Training Establishment, Air Force Examiner Air Traffic Control Examining Team, Directorate of Air Staff Inspection and Instructor, Ground Control Approach (GCA) courses.

Provision of Air Traffic Services has become complex demanding high professional capability. This is more felt at this station due to different types of aircraft comprising fighters (Bis), Bombers (Canberras), Transport aircraft, civil and Air Force (Superconstellation), Indian Air Lines, private operators and the stream of visiting aircraft. Radar located at this Wing has gained more significance not only due to the complexity of the Air Traffic but also, due to the special requirement of radar approach control (RAPCON) and limited surveillance of aircraft in local flying area with no signal unit coverage, marginal weather conditions and the not dependable functional capabilities of the diversionary civil airfields have further enhanced the necessity of the radar.

True to the sense that it is the man behind the machine that matters, Sqn Ldr Kailasm during his short tenure of 13 months has made his presence felt in all fields of flying activities. He is a class by himself. His dedication to meet the service requirements and involvement are in toto. He has maintained exceptional standards through out his service career and set his personal example as a motivating factor to the juniors placed under him. Utter disregard to his personal comforts, he had applied himself fully to the task assigned. He was solely responsible for streamlining the GCA procedures, creating a feeling amongst the aircrew that radar is a most reliable asset even under exacting conditions.

The officer was entrusted with the task of conducting the Ground Control Approach courses in addition to his normal responsibility of Chief Ground Approach Controller. With his foresight and planning capability he had used the limited resources for optimisation utilisation in compilation of the radar précis is highly commendable. In short he is an asset in any organization.

The officer is full of initiative and his outstanding professional competence. Due to his hard work and personal involvement he has set a personal example which is in the best traditions of the Indian Air Force.

For his outstanding ability, deep sense of dedication and distinguished service of very high order, the President is pleased to award Vishisht Seva Medal to Squadron Leader Sivaswamy Kailasam.

Gp Capt Satyendra Pal .Singh has been the Chief Engineering Officer of an Air Force Station for about 13 months which operates different types of aircraft, besides mix of advanced weapons, ground based navi gational approach aids, modern arrester barrier systems, specialist vehicles, common user vehicles and Surface to Air Missiles. In maintaining these systems and equipment to the desired standards, major hurdles came up due to lack of adequate resources in terms of spares and technical support facilities. Each of the hurdles was crossed through his dedicated leadership, technical skill, mana gerial ability and professionalism.

During early part of his tenure, serviceability of the MiG-29 dropped severely due to inadequate servicing, repair, acute shortage of spares. He displayed exceptional engineering sense and managerial ability in fabricating repair stations and exploiting indigenously available options to repair literally hundreds of components which otherwise had to be sent abroad for repair. He developed modifications of the radar test facility, set up testing facility for over half a dozen systems. Delicate fuel components and electronic control system of the high tech engine were opened and successfully repaired under his able guidance at the Wing level.

When he took over as the CEO, the Jaguars were being sent to a Base over a thousand miles away for routine servicing and repair because of lack of facilities at the Base. Gp Capt Singh set nearly the entire range of servicing facilities at this Base fabricated by his manpower alone and using mostly indigenous components. He created a valuable second line facility for the Jaguars. He also set up the AGAVE radar testing facility with available resources. His effort helped the Air Force to save valuable flying hours and effort in ferrying Jaguars for routine servicing, repair etc. His effort helped in setting up the test facility of missiles in a record time. But for his efforts, valuable foreign exchange would have been lost on expiry of warranty period.

For his meticulous approach, managerial skill, professionalism of a high order and dedicated hard work, the President is pleased to award Bar to Vishisht Seva Medal to Gp Capt SP Singh.

Air Commodore RC Mahadik was commissioned on 27 Jun 64 as a Fighter Controller in Administrative Branch. He is one of the first few controllers to earn 'A' category. He has held many important assignments which include Senior Operations Officer of an Air Defence Direction Centre, Inspector in Directorate of Air Staff Inspection and Joint Director Air Defence (Ground Environment) at Air Headquarters. In the last assignment he was instrumental in making the QRs for Futuristic Automatic Data Handling Systems, conducting trials of Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) networking, and selection of low level radars for CRCs. He was appointed Chief Administrative Officer of Air Force Station Pune in Dec 93.

He wasted no time in plunging himself deeply into the job so that a sound administrative support was set up to create a safe flying environment. Whether it was airfield maintenance or welfare of the men working on the machines, Air Cmde Mahadik left no stones unturned to ensure that they were given the requisite support to the full satisfaction of the operators. In the field of work services, it was his sole initiative which saw the conversion of old buildings into comfortable dwellings with a fresh life of another 20 to 25 years at minimal cost. Air Cmde Mahadik ensured healthy growth of all the non-public funds. These were used very judiciously to improve the quality of life in the station.

For distinguished services of high order, the President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Air Commodore RC Mahadik.

Group Captain Ajit Shankarrao Bhonsle (15327) Flying (Navigator) was commissioned on 08 Jun 1978 as a Navigator in the Flying branch of the IAF. During his 26 years of service he has held important appointments including that of Commanding Officer of Navigation Training School, Air Force Examiner and Deputy Director Air Staff Inspections at Air HQ. He is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College and College of Defence Management. Presently, he is posted as Chief Admin Officer at a Fighter Base in South Western Sector.

Gp Capt Bhonsle has over 5200 hours of accident/incident free flying involving VVIP commitments and forward area operational flying. The only A-l Qualified Navigation Instructor in the IAF, he has 800 hrs of instructional flying experience. He has the rare distinction of being the staff of both the Aircrew Examining Board and the Directorate of Air Staff Inspection.

On taking over as the Chief Administrative Officer he immediately initiated electricity saving measures by way of sky lighting of buildings, improvement in power factor, use of energy efficient lamps and strict regulation of security and street lighting. This has resulted in saving of Rs. 60 lakhs in the year 2002-03 and Rs. One Crore in the current year even as the electricity requirement at this Base steadily increased in the last two years due to the newly established ground facilities.

As the Chief Administrative Officer, he has ensured that all the related works services are of high quality and on schedule thereby facilitating expeditious operationalisation of the new aircraft in the IAF. His involvement in the runway maintenance has effectively prevented Foreign Object Damage to the aircraft, which is a significant contribution to Flight Safety. During 'Op Parakram' the administrative support to the Squadrons and Radar units for the move to operational locations and during the extended deployment has been exemplary.

The officer has demonstrated exemplary organizing ability, meticulous planning & intelligent use of resources during the SU-30 MKI induction. He has efficiently marshalled the Station manpower in conjunction with the State Government agencies and Army Establishments to create a Station Park as a Rain Water Harvesting project and a well laid out jogger's Park in the most economic manner.

For his distinguished service of high order, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Group Captain Ajit Shankarrao Bhonsle.

Group Captain Arun Kumar Kapur (15337) Adm/FC was commissioned on 08 Jun 78 in the Administration Branch of IAF. For 19 years he served as Fighter Controller wherein he completed Master Fighter Controllers' course with DS grading. Thereafter he served as staff in Tactical and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) for over three years. He has been commended by AOC-in-C, SWAC in 1994 and has been commended twice by the Chief of the Air Staff in 1996 and 2002.

As Chief Administrative Officer of Air Force Station Pune since 12 Dec 05, the officer has demonstrated excellent performance and has made notable contributions in the field of Administration at this station. Last year the station was visited by the Honourable President of India to undertake his maiden flight in Sukhoi-30 aircraft. Gp Capt Kapur displayed a very high order of professionalism and involvement in making all the cer emonial, administrative and security arrangements, which made the Honourable President's visit a grand success.

As part of the ongoing Platinum Jubilee Year of the Air Force, the station organised an Air Display in Jan 07. On that day about fifty thousand people visited the station. Due to the personal involvement, foresight and dedication of the officer the event was also a grand success. In Nov 2006, the station was inspected by Directorate of Air Staff Inspection team from Air HQ. The Administrative Support Group of the station, was assessed as 'High Average' overall. In addition, the station was adjudged as The Best Wing in Administration in South Western Air Command for the year 2006. For his distinguished service of high order, Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Group Captain Arun Kumar Kapur.