A large 4$pi$ array of charged particle detectors has been developed at Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre to facilitate high resolution charged particle reaction and spectroscopy studies by detecting event-by-event the charged reaction products emitted in heavy ion reactions at energy $sim$ 10-60 MeV/A. The forward part ($theta sim pm $ $7^{0}$ - $pm 45^{0}$) of the array consists of 24 highly granular, high resolution charged particle telescopes, each of which is made by three layers [single sided silicon strip($Delta$E) + double sided silicon strip (E/$Delta$E) + CsI(Tl)(E)]of detectors. The backward part of the array consists of 112 CsI(Tl) detectors which are capable of detecting primarily the light charged particles (Z $le$ 2) emitted in the angular range of $theta sim pm $ $45^{0}$ - $pm 175^{0}$. The extreme forward part of the array ($theta sim pm $ $3^{0}$ - $pm 7^{0}$) is made up of 32 slow-fast plastic phoswich detectors that are capable of detecting light (Z $le$2) and heavy charged particles (3 $le$ Z $lesssim$ 20) as well as handling high count rates. The design, construction and characterization of the array has been described.
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