A large number of serving and retired Defence personnel live in Chandigarh which is the capital of Punjab and Haryana as well as a Union Territory. The Punjab government felt a need to set up a suitable institute for ex-Defence officers. On 2.7.91, the then Governor of Punjab, General O.P. Malhotra (retd) laid the foundation stone of the Defense Services Officers Institute building on a two-acre site in Sector 36 allotted by the Chandigarh Administration. Construction work was been entrusted to PESCO. The Institution is presently functioning under the arrangements of Headquarters Western Command, Chandimandir.