The Pioneer
Pay Rank Pay Liable since '86 To Armed forces :
Supreme Court to Govt
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on
Tuesday directed the Centre to re-fix the pay of defence personnel
retrospectively from January 1, 1986 including the component of rank pay that
was wrongly denied to them since the Fourth Pay Commission.
A three-judge bench of Justices RM Lodha, TS Thakur
and AR Dave directed the Centre to pay the rank pay liable since the Pay Commission
came into force in 1986. In abiding by the court order, the exchequer could
face a financial liability of close to Rs 1,500 crore as the court even asked
the Centre to award annual interest of six per cent to be calculated from
January 1, 2006. This order would apply to roughly 20,000 officers of the Army,
Navy or Air Force, both serving and retired, irrespective of whether they filed
petition in court or the Armed Forces Tribunal. The court even fixed a
time-period of 12 weeks for the Centre to comply with its order.
The order is sure to boost the morale of the
defence forces, who were denied the rank pay despite being entitled for it since
1986. The matter was first raised by Major AK Dhanapalan before the Kerala High
Court, which detected the anomaly and found no justification with the Centre’s
decision to deduct the rank pay. The rank pay, as the name suggested, was a sum
fixed for each rank beginning from Captain to Brigadier, and the corresponding
ranks in the Navy and Air Force. For Captain, an additional amount of 200 would
get added to his monthly income as rank pay, it followed an ascending order as per
the ascension in rank. For instance, Major rank officer was to get Rs 600, Lt
Col and Colonel to get Rs 800 and Brigadier to get Rs 1200 per month.
With Dhanpalan’s case serving as the basis, several
officers approached the High Court, causing the matter to come up till the
Supreme Court which too decided in favour of the defence forces through its
order of March 8, 2010. The court not only directed re-fixation of pay from
January 1, 1986 but burdened the Centre with six per cent interest from that
date onwards. For this reason, the Centre moved an application seeking recall
of the order.
Solicitor General RF Nariman impressed upon the bench
that granting rank pay with interest would cause a huge financial burden on the
Government. But the court went by the purpose behind the rank pay provision
that was to encourage persons to join the Armed Forces and provide parity in
their salaries with their civilian counterparts. The denial of the same was
seen by the court and by the defence officers as ill-treatment of armed forces
by bureaucrats.
The Retired Defence Service officers, who were
represented by senior advocate Mahabir Singh, Aishwarya Bhati and BB Trikha,
informed the court that the Defence Ministry had pursued the application to
modify the March 8, 2010 order despite opposition from the Chiefs of Staff
Committee and the three Service Chiefs
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Times of India
Pay Rs 1,600 crore arrears to
Army officers: SC
NEW DELHI: Assuaging a major grievance of officers
upto Brigadier level, the Supreme Courton
Tuesday directed the Centre to appropriately fix rank pay, introduced to pay
them a little more than their civilian counterparts to attract youth to make a
career in the Army, and disburse the arrears since January 1, 1986. A bench of Justices R M Lodha, T S Thakur and A R Dave rejected the Union
government's application for modification of the apex court's March 8, 2010,
order agreeing with the reasoning of Kerala High Court in the case of Major
Dhanapalan. The HC had directed proper fixation of rank pay from January 1,
1986, and payment of arrears with 6% interest.
In abiding by the court order, the exchequer could face a financial liability
of close to Rs 1,600 crore as the SC asked the Centre to pay annual interest of
6% to be calculated from January 1, 2006. This order would apply to all officers of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force,
both serving and retired, irrespective of whether they filed petition in court
or the Armed Forces
Tribunal. The court asked the government to comply with the order in
three months.
The grievance of the officers in the Army arose
from the wrong fixation of rank pay as awarded by the 4th Pay Commission, in
which the element of rank pay was introduced for ranks from Captain to
Brigadier in the Army and their equivalent ranks in the Air Force and the Navy, in addition to pay in the integrated
scale. The rationale of this was to make the Armed Forces attractive career option and
to continue the edge that was always provided to the defence officers compared
to their civilian counterparts due to the difficult and challenging nature of
their job profile. However, at the time of fixation, the rank pay was first deducted to arrive at
the total emoluments and thereafter added after fixation in the integrated
scale. This ensured that the final fixation of the total pay of the officer
became at par with his civilian counter parts and the edge was neutralized during
fixation, officers had argued through advocate on record Aishwarya Bhati.
This SC order will benefit a large number of
officers who were in the rank of Captain to Brigadier in the Army and
equivalent ranks in the Air Force and the Navy, between January 1, 1986 and
January 1, 2006.
Hindustan
Times
Pay Rs. 1600
cr arrears to army officers: SC tells Centre
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the
government to re-fix the pay scale of of army officers affected by the fourth
pay commission which would now entail a payout of Rs. 1,600 crore to
the exchequer.
The apex court also directed the Centre to pay
interest at the rate of 6% from January 1, 2006, to all the officers, whether
or not they have filed any petition before any of the High Courts or Benches of
Armed Forces Tribunal, within 12 weeks from on Tuesday.
The bench directed that all pending
petitions before any of the High Courts or Benches of Armed Forces Tribunal, by
similarly-placed officers, will be governed by this order.
A three-judge bench of justice RM Lodha, justice
TS Thakur and justice Anil R Dave, passed the order while dismissing an
application filed by the Centre for recall and modification of March 8, 2010
order.
By the March, 2010 order, the apex court had
agreed with the reasoning of the Kerala high court in the case of Major
Dhanapalan and directed proper fixation of rank pay from January 1,1986 and
interest at the rate of 6% per annum.
The officers had contended that there was a
wrong fixation of rank pay awarded by the Fourth Pay Commission in which the
element of rank pay was introduced for all ranks from Captain to Brigadier in
the Army and their equivalent ranks in the Air Force and Navy, in addition to
pay in the integrated scale.
However, at the time of fixation, the rank pay
was first deducted to arrive at the total emoluments and thereafter added after
fixation in the integrated scale. This ensured that the final fixation of the
total pay of the officer became at par with his civilian counterpart and the
edge was neutralised during fixation.
***********
The
Hindu
Re-fix
Defence officers’ pay: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court directed the Centre on Tuesday to
re-fix the pay of about 20,000 Defence officers from January 1, 1986, without
deducting the rank pay and to pay them arrears.
A three-judge Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha, T.S.
Thakur and Anil R. Dave also directed the Centre to pay six per cent interest
from January 1, 2006 to all the officers, irrespective of whether they had
filed petitions before any of the High Courts or Benches of the Armed Forces
Tribunal, within 12 weeks from Tuesday.
The Bench directed that all pending petitions
before High Courts or Benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal by similarly placed
officers would be governed by this order. The Bench rejected the Centre’s
application seeking the recall the order of the Kerala High Court, which in
October 1998 found no justification in deducting the rank pay and directed the
Centre to re-fix the pay.
The core issue is the wrong fixation of rank pay
awarded by the Fourth Pay Commission. The element of rank pay was introduced
for all ranks from Captain to Brigadier in the Army and their equivalent ranks
in the Air Force and the Navy, in addition to pay in the integrated scale. The
rationale behind this was to make the Armed Forces an attractive career option
and ensure that the defence officers continued to have an edge vis-à-vis their
civilian counterparts, keeping in mind the difficult and challenging nature of
their job. However, according to the officers, the rank pay was first deducted
at the time of fixation to arrive at the total emoluments and thereafter added,
after fixation, in the integrated scale. Consequently, the final fixation of
the total pay of the officer became on a par with his civilian counterpart’s and
the edge was neutralised.
Major A.K. Dhanapalan was the first officer to
challenge this erroneous fixation before the Kerala High Court. Thereafter,
several petitions were filed by similarly placed officers in High Courts and
before different benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal.
After the High Court judgment, the Armed Forces and
the Chiefs of Staff Committee had recommended against pursuing the litigation
further in the Supreme Court. However, the Ministry of Defence chose to press
the application for recall on several grounds, including a total financial
liability of about Rs. 1600 crores.
***********
NDTV
Armed Forces win long standing pay battle in Supreme
Court
by Nitin Gokhale,
The armed forces won a
landmark victory in their long standing battle to get an anomaly in fixation of
pay scales for commissioned officers noticed in the 4th Pay Commission.
The Supreme Court today
ordered payment of rank pay arrears to all affected officers estimated to number
over 20,000 with effect from January 1, 1986. The government had been told the
pay the arrears within 12 weeks. According to sources, the total outgo to
government in making this payment will be over Rs. 1500 crore.
Military lawyers told NDTV
that historically the most important litigation involving the military has culminated
today.
The Supreme Court decided
not to interfere in its earlier decision granting the cumulative benefits and arrears
of Rank Pay with effect from 01-01-1986 to all affected officers.
It said the benefits shall
be released to all officers irrespective of whether they had approached a judicial
forum or not. According to Major Navdeep Singh who specialises in military
cases, this matter was carried over from the 4th Central Pay Commission (CPC)
when an integrated pay scale of Rs. 2300-5100 was implemented for officers from
the rank of 2/Lieutenant to Brigadier. In addition, rank pay was authorised to
officers from the rank of Captain to Brigadier ranging from Rs. 200 to 1200
which was to be added into the basic pay for all intents and purposes.
OUTLOOK
India
Pay Rs
1600 Cr Arrears to Army Officers: SC to Centre
The Supreme Court today directed the Government to re-fix the
pay scale of of army officers affected by the Fourth Pay Commission which would
now entail a payout of Rs 1,600 crore to the exchequer. The order will benefit a large number of officers who were in
the rank of Captain to Brigadier in the army and equivalent ranks in the Air
Force and Navy, between January 1, 1986 and January 1, 2006, according to
counsel Aishwaraya Bhatti, representing the officers.
The apex court also directed the Centre to pay interest at the
rate of 6 per cent from January 1, 2006, to all the officers, whether or not
they have filed any petition before any of the High Courts or Benches of Armed
Forces Tribunal, within 12 weeks from today.
The bench directed that all pending petitions before any of
the High Courts or Benches of Armed Forces Tribunal, by similarly-placed
officers, will be governed by this order. A three-judge bench of justices- R M
Lodha, T S Thakur and Anil R Dave, passed the order while dismissing an
application filed by the Centre for recall and modification of March 8, 2010
order.
By the March, 2010 order, the apex court had agreed with the
reasoning of the Kerala High Court in the case of Major Dhanapalan and directed
proper fixation of rank pay from January 1,1986 and interest at the rate of 6
per cent per annum. The officers had contended that there was a wrong fixation of
rank pay awarded by the Fourth Pay Commission in which the element of rank pay
was introduced for all ranks from Captain to Brigadier in the Army and their
equivalent ranks in the Air Force and Navy, in addition to pay in the
integrated scale. However, at the time of fixation, the rank pay was
first deducted to arrive at the total emoluments and thereafter added after
fixation in the integrated scale. This ensured that the final fixation of the
total pay of the officer became at par with his civilian counterpart and the
edge was neutralised during fixation.
The rationale of this was to make the Armed Forces an
attractive career option and to continue the edge that was always provided to
the defence officers vis-à-vis their civilian counterparts, owing to the difficult
and challenging nature of the job profile. The officers had contended they got a raw deal from the
bureaucrats who have systematically worked on ensuring that the historic edge
defence officers had with respect to their civilian counterparts is first neutralised and eventually reversed.
Major A K Dhanapalan was the first officer to challenge the
erroneous fixation before the Kerala High Court which had in October 1998 found
no justification in deducting the rank pay and directed the UOI to re-fix the
pay without deducting the rank pay.
A Division Bench of the High Court also affirmed with the
finding of the single judge and dismissed the
Centre's plea. Aggrieved, the union government challenged the orders
before the apex court which also dismissed its
appeal on July 12, 2005. Thereafter, several petitions were filed by similarly placed
officers before different High Courts and
different benches of Armed Forces Tribunal on the issue.
any benefit for the offrs from 6th CPC, as the MSP and Grade pay arears were also not incl in the total arears calculations.
ReplyDeleteIn the 6th pay commission the civilian offcers in the pay scale of 14300-18300 have been placed in pay band 4 with grade pay of Rs 8700/-In view of hon'able supreme court decision the pay of the Lt Col and equavalents comes to Rs 15100-18700. The Government must refix the pay scale of Lt Col and equvalents with grade pay of Rs 8700/-
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