IT IS TIME - THE ARMY HQ HAVE THEIR OWN ACCTS DEPT INSTEAD OF CDAs?

 A CASE STUDY ON RANK PAY BY MAJ AK DHANAPALAN RETD 

The Rank Pay case is known to every one, no need for any further elaboration. Whether all the effected officers got actual dues? - is known to the individual officers only. My experience in this aspect is given below which will give an idea as to whether you got the calculations correctly:-

As you all are aware that the first judgment in this case was on 5/10/98 and appeal after appeal and finally decided to make the re-fixation w.e.f. 1/1/86. After these dramas, first time I got a letter from CDA(O) asking me to “forward a stamped receipt in triplicate to the effect that the amount of Rs.28,031/-is received in full as final settlement on account of re-fixation of your pay wef 1/1/86 in conformity with the court orders” vide their No.Arch/D/158747 d/d 12/9/2005.(No cheque/draft/cash, not even the fixation/calculation details).

I wrote back asking for the details and also intimated that asking for a stamped receipt that too in triplicate without actually making the payment and also without knowing the correctness of the calculation/fixation how can a I give a certificate as final settlement and in conformity with the court orders? I got a reply that the requirement is as per the directions of Army HQ letter No. B/25511/ AKDP/AG/DV-5/PS-3(a) d/d 26/8/05 and if you are not complying with the instructions the amount cannot be paid.

I had to do this illegal act on the directions of ARMY HQ. A current cheque for Rs.28,031/- received on 31/10/05, without any working details. After prolonged correspondence, the working details were received.  On scrutiny I found the fixation was not properly done and that too the calculations. After a prolonged correspondence and draft fixation made myself, the CDA finally agreed to revise the fixation.

After revising the fixation they came out with another problem that I have to cross the EB which is to be accorded by the MS Br based on the ACRs. The Army HQ has given sanction to cross the EB vide Army HQ No. MS Br/M/5803/IC/37977/EB/97/MS 80 d/d 27/8/77, but the CDA cannot take it as retrospective effect but can be given from prospective effect only. I had to take up the issue with MS Br who has informed that their letter d/d 27/8/77 is not traceable and forward  a copy. I had to spoke to the officer concerned and clarification to this issue was given to CDA by the MS Br. on 8/9/2006.

After a pronged correspondence with the CDA/Army HQ, the fixation has been revised by the CDA and sent a further cheque for Rs.1818/- vide their No.Arch/D/158747 d/d 12/10/06. This was not meeting the requirement as per my calculations. After a prolonged correspondence the CDA had sent another cheque for Rs.90/- vide d/d 19/2/2007. The above arrears (Rs.28,031 +1818+90 =29,939/-) was only upto 31/12/1995. And it was intimated that fixation w.e.f. 1/1/96 cannot be carried out as the Judgment is only for the IVth CPC.

Here the 2 nd stage of episode commenced.

The case was in supreme Court for quite some time and we all aware how the Govt delayed the case with repeated appeals and review petitions etc.  I am not repeating the story.  But after issue of the judgment to carry out the re-fixation, after prolonged correspondence, I got an intimation from the bank that a sum of Rs.38,634/- has been credited in to my account. No details were available. The CDA has been asked to forward the pay fixation proforma, calculation details etc. From the details received, I found some serious discrepancies in the pay fixation and asked them to correct.  Accordingly the fixation has been revised and the arrears worked out to Rs.55,049.00 upto 31/8/1997 (my date of retirement). An amendment to the LPC was also sent to CDA(P) Allahabad Vide CDA(O) No.PRC/158757/06 d/d 4/11/2015 to revise the pension.

Accordingly, the following actions are still pending:-

a)Issue of Corr. to PPO

b)Arrears of pension from 1/9/1997 to 30/6/2014 which comes to Rs.50,000(including DA)

c)Difference of Gratuity/capitalised value of pension : arround Rs.50,000.00

d)Difference of LTC/TA DA etc. Arround Rs.50,000.00

e)Interest on the above as per the judgment - arround Rs.10,000.00

The Army Officers had a very good impression about the CDA (O)  Pune,  a sort of blind belief.  But the above narration shows how the CDA has tried their best to sabotage a normal financial benefit granted to the uniformed personnel by the duly constituted pay commission and sanctioned by the Govt of India. With the intervention of the judiciary the whole conspiracy have now come to public, but the amount of demoralization the services have suffered con not be compensated.

Can we still maintain the same belief, in CDA(O) Pune?. There is a strong reason to believe that the interference of the audit staff has become abnormally high in the decision making process and goes beyond the capacity of advisors. Whether the CDA which is intended to serve the Armed Forces Personnel is doing their job faithfully? Or, are they functioning arbitrarily?  What is the responsibility of the Army HQ or the COAS in this respect? Is it so, because of the incapability of the service HQs?

But it has a good lesson to learn - Since all the CDAs establishments are being paid out of Defence estimates, Who should be the authority is sanctioning their establishments/promotion etc? Why these matters of accounts be run by the uniformed personnel themselves (instead of waiting for the CDAs to act on such issues) and save budgetary allocations? Such a system exists in the IAF, the Accounts Branch Officers and uniformed men at unit level, cater to such needs, without any difficulty. It is time to re-consider the whole issue before it is too late. Rank Pay is not the only issue, there are so many other basic issues.

Now, coming to Rank Pay – re-fixation, the above narration is mainly intended to have scrutiny by all effected officers for its correctness and ask for clarifications from the CDA wherever necessary.

All our problem with the CDA should be brought to the notice of RM/PM and build the case against the CDA. Most of the senior officers who were granted the Rank Pay could not, I believe, get the benefit because of the pay scale structure and for other reasons created by CDA. Some of the categories like Major/eqv would have been in PB3 had the pay been correctly fixed in 4th, 5^th and 6thPCs. These are the cases still left out. 

(The blogger edited the spelling,grammar and punctuation errors, so as not to change the meaning of original text/article).

(SOURCE - Via e-mail from Maj AK Dhanapalan Retd)