A field study was conducted with three dates of sowing viz., 15 October, 25 October and 5 November in relation to four chickpea cultivars viz., K 850, Avrodhi, Radhey and KGD 1168 during rabi season of 2004–05 and 2005–06 to find out optimum time of sowing and suitable cultivar for sustainable production in the region. The results revealed that crop sown on 25 October produced significantly higher number of pods/plant, number of seeds/plant and grain yield as compared to other dates of sowing. Crop sown on October 25 utilized more accumulated Growing Degree Days (GDD: 1946 day°C) than 5 November sown crop (1829.9 day°C) during cropping period from sowing to physiological maturity. The number of pods/plant, number of seeds/plant were higher in cultivar KGD 1168 followed by Avrodhi and Radhey. Maximum accumulated GDD (1980.2 day°C) were utilized by cultivar KGD 1168 while minimum GDD (1916.2 day°C) utilized by Avrodhi, whereas cultivars K 850 and Radhey were at par to attain physiological maturity. Amongst all the dates of sowing October 25 sown chickpea crop exhibited maximum Heat Use efficiency (HUE) of 1.06 grain kg/ha/deg. day.