In a first, Indian Armed Forces to have separate pay commission

 New Delhi: In a first, Indian Armed Forces will have a separate pay commission that will deal with the pay revision and benefits granted to the defence personnel only.  Giving in to the demands of the three services chiefs, who had written to the Defence Minister AK Antony last year complaining about the anomalies in the sixth pay commission, the Central government has agreed to delink the pay revision of defence personnel from the civilian employees and constitute a separate pay commission for the military personnel this year.

The reports of a first exclusive pay commission for the military comes as the government has today announced the Seventh Pay Commission for 80 lakh central government employees and pensioners. Its recommendations are likely to be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016.

 

Though the government had agreed to cater to the demands of Armed Forces, the three services chiefs registered strong objection to the fact that there was no military representative on the panel set up by the Prime Minister to look into demands of the forces for pay parity with civil servants.  The panel set up by the PM in July had four IAS officers as its members and was headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

 

The main demand of the Armed Forces is granting of Non-functional upgrade in the pay to the armed forces on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the fact that it would be decided only by the IAS officers did not go down well with the military chiefs. “Unlike IAS where all civil servants retire as Additional Secretaries, the hierarchy structure in the armed forces is very steep. Not more than 20 percent of the people make it beyond the rank of Brigadiers,” reports quoted a Army personnel as saying.

The military personnel’s other demands are granting of One Rank One Pension for retired personnel and One Rank One Pay for those still serving. The Armed Forces also clamoured for fixing rank pay and fixing pay structure for Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) and junior commissioned officers (JCOs). Reacting to the complaint, the Defence Minister had written to the Prime Minister saying there was "growing discontentment among the services personnel due to the anomalies in fixation of payment and salaries."

Antony conveyed to the PM that the defence personne, ex-servicemen and the pensioners were “agitated” over the pay anomalies and “corrective measures” must be taken soon. The government has so far constituted six pay commissions but it will be the first time since independence that a separate pay commission will be created to look into the pay revisions of defence personnel.

The government constitutes Pay Commission almost every ten years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification

 

(Source-Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha)
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Form separate Pay Commission for armed forces: SC to govt

Slamming the Centre for making army personnel run from pillar to post on their salary disputes, the Supreme Court today directed the government to examine the idea of setting up a separate Pay Commission for both serving and retired personnel of the armed forces. A Bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and T S Thakur, asked Attorney General G E Vahanvati and Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to seek instructions from the government as to whether it was open to the idea of a separate pay commission that could be headed by a retired Chief Justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court.

"The day the soldiers are forced to fight for their salaries, it would be a sad day for the country," the Bench said quoting Chanakya's advise to Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. The apex court said the sane advise of Chanakya was valid even today and it was unfortunate that army personnel are forced to knock the doors of the court for rectifying their salary anomalies. "Army people are a disciplined lot. They cannot go on agitation like others. They should not be forced to fight for their salaries, it is not good for the country.

"It is very unfortunate that today many army people are unhappy. I know thousands of army personnel returning their medals in protest. There was an instance when a senior officer frustrated with the government's approach, even burnt his artificial limb as a protest. Why do you allow such things?" the Bench said. The apex court made the remarks while dealing with a petition filed by certain serving and retired army officers challenging the reported refusal of the government to accord them enhanced "rank pay" as recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission. Counsel Kailash Chand and Ramesh K Haritash appeared for the army personnel.

Though Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium tried to make his submission, the Bench pointed out that in recent years a number of armed forces personnel were moving the courts to get their salary grievances addressed. "The present Pay Commission for them is headed by bureaucrats. They may not be able to understand their problems. It is a burning issue. Why don't you allow them to let their steam out by appointing a Commission instead of making them move from pillar to post. You can appoint a retired Chief Justice of India or a retired Suprem Court judge," the Bench said.

Responding to the suggestion Subramanium said he would seek instructions from the Government on the court's suggestion for a separate Commission within four weeks. Accordingly, the apex court recorded the undertaking and posted the matter for further hearing to October 18.

(Source - Indian Express- 08 Sep 10)
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