Major General Dampath Fernando has been appointed the new Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army with effect from 4 August 2017.

He succeeds Major General Renaka V. Udawatte who retired recently.

Major General Dampath Fernando of the Sri Lanka Army Gemunu Watch (GW) Regiment has been serving as the Commander, Security Forces - Mullaittivu, before he was appointed to this post.

An old boy of De Mazenod College, Kandana, Fernando joined the Sri Lanka Army (Regular Force) as an Officer Cadet on 27 April 1983 and underwent basic military training at the Sri Lanka Military Academy - Diyathalawa in the Intake 18.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 7 November 1984 and posted afterwards to the GW Regiment.

Despite his active involvement in the military operations during the final phase of war, he was sent on compulsory retirement after 2009, under directives of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

It was believed that the previous government made this decision due to fears that Fernando was a close associate of former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka. 

Fernando was reinstated in the service in February, 2015, by President Maithripala Sirisena.