Sorry, should have mentioned in my previous post something specific that ACM Tipnis mentioned to elaborate on the correct procedure which he stressed.  He said the request to the IAF was communicated through Vice Chief of the Army Staff, who was officiating Chief with Malik on a foreign trip to Poland. Tipnis asked VCOAS to ‘sign off’ on the army request for AF intervention, the army Vice Chief demurred on the first occasion, and again the second time around they met. The hint here was that the VCOAS was in touch with Malik, still in Warsaw or where ever, but the army was sensitive about seen to be asking for IAF help, perhaps, because of the stand taken by the incompetent Kishen Pal, 15 Corps cmdr, who insisted his forces alone would be able to clear out the enemy encroachment, little realizing the extent, size and quality of Pakistani intrusion. This still doesn’t explain, leave alone excuse, Tipnis’ insistence on the procedural/bureaucratic correctness of wanting the army to sign off, etc.