The Government Letter of 17 January 2013 - "The so Called Bonanza for Defence Veterans"

An Appeal to all Veterans

In response to a mail by me to Brig (Retd) CS Vidyasagar, a fellow Sapper and a Bombay Sapper to be precise, the following communication has been received by me. He has very analytically highlighted how the Government of India under the spell of a committed bureaucracy has taken us Veterans, for a ride in the guise of "Bonanza" and has also misguided the Nation of having met Veterans long standing demands. The hoax is that the dues which should have been granted to the Defence Veterans from 1.1.2006 have been given from 24.9.2012 only. Thus causing a rankwise loss to the veterans as highlighted in the letter reproduced below.

In view of this it has become incumbent upon the Veterans to take the GOI to the Court for restoring these dues wef 1.1.2006. As in the Rank Pay Case, it is being appealed to the RDOA to represent the Veterans in their legal battle, which could be a long drawn out one and would require substantial finances. 

Accordingly, it is an appeal to all my Veteran Brethren to contribute generously or as much as they possibly can to the RDOA for taking up our case with the appropriate judicial authority. Maximum co-operation in this regard would be highly solicited, so that the RDOA doesn't have to look around for funds elsewhere.

For contributions please visit http://rdoaindia.blogspot.in/ or contact President Col BK Sharma Mob : 9212252627 or Secretary General Col Satwant Singh Mob : 9818039172

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Dear Col Anand,

Your blog is very good and I had read all the articles featured in it few times. Very interesting articles are published in it. Thank you for doing such a wonderful job.

  

We have to take the bull by its horns. We must fight this gross injustice done to us deliberately by MOD by giving our enhanced pension only from 24 Sep 2012 when they should have gracefully given us from 01 Jan 2006.

As you know AFTs do not have contempt of courts powers. Many AFT judgements are not still implemented by MOD as stated by Maj Navdeep Singh, one of the foremost lawyers we fortunately have  in our tribe, in his TV interview yesterday to one of the TV Channels, I think,  in Chandigarh.

The only institution the MOD is scared of is Hon'ble Supreme Court. So RDOA must file a case if the MOD does not see the rationale of  denying our due arrears from 01 Jan 2006.

    

As you are aware, we got Rank Pay arrears only after RDOA filed a case and took it to its logical conclusion. We must repeat for our Enhanced pensions from 01 Jan 2006 and not from 24 Sep 2012.  Yes, wily MOD babus will keep delaying the case by umpteen adjournments, filing appeals with division bench, full bench etc and calling for recall of order  if the judgement is given in our favour.  They are past masters in this as they have acquired quite a lot of experience in Rank Pay case right from 1996 to 2012 i.e 16 years. The number of deceased officers who are beneficiaries of rank pay arrears as on today as per list given by AGs branch for Army alone is 8,312. You many not be surprised many of their widows also might have died. So by delaying the judicial process for light years, MOD will ensure the actual outgo from Govt exchequer will be considerably less.

We need to understand to fight a case in Hon'be Supreme Court, we need a lot of money. It is moral responsibility of all ( including PBOR and widows) to contribute tiny sum to RDOA so that they are not constrained for funds.

I would request you to kindly disseminate widely so that maximum number of volunteers come up and strengthen the hands of RDOA. 

As per my rough calculations even Sepoy with 15 years service (most of them retire at this service) and in Y Group( bulk of our OR are form this group) is likely to get Rs 56,675. For others it is as under :-

Rank                                                               Likely Arrears (in Rs) w.e.f 01 Jan 2006

Sepoy                     15 years in Y Group           56,675

Naik                       20 years in Y Group          60,169

Hav                        24 Years in Y Group          87, 906

Hony Nb Sub                                                  87, 906

Hony Lt                                                          2,14, 578

Hony Capt                                                       2, 50, 614

For Officers with Full Pension (serving upto 33 years including weightage for given for that rank)

Lieut                      -                   Rs 2,14, 578

Capt                       -                   Rs 2,50,614

Maj                        -                   Rs 4,48,266

Lt Col                     -                   Rs 61,698

Col(TS/SG)            -                   Rs 1,90,554

Brig                       -                    Rs 3,27,054

Maj Gen                 -                    Rs 6,31, 613

Lt Gen                    -                    Rs 13,03,193

Yes, You must be wondering why such hefty hike for Maj Gens and Lt Gens. You think MOD is sympathetic to such senior ranks, No. Every IAS officer retires as Joint Secy equivalent to Maj Gen. If you give big jump to Maj Gen, actually you are helping your own  retired IAS brothers. How many Defence Services Officers retire in the rank of Maj Gen?

When Lt Gens may be feeling happy that they will become millionaires, wait a minute how many officers become  Lt Gens and how many Addl Secys are there. There must be atleast 500 Addl Secy ranked officers in the country for every one Lt Gen. Now you see who has benefitted immensely. It is not faujis but the retired IAS officers.

I will send you only one MS Excel sheet for arrears for Cols as an attachment to this mail  so that you can find mistakes in my calculations.

  

I have decided to contribute Rs 1,000 per month to RDOA till we get Hon'ble Supreme Court judgement. I do not care whether we win or not, but we must give a bloody nose to these charlatans who are out to keep us under their boots for times to come. I have no doubt, hon'ble Supreme Court by just reading the MOD letter dated 11 Nov 2008 at para 5 will throw out the arguments of MOD and give us our legitimate dues. So I do not see any reason as to why we can not win the case in the apex court.

May I request  you to kindly appeal to all pensioners to liberally contribute to RDOA to fight our case right upto Hon'ble Supreme Court. Monthly small contributions would not pinch anyone.

with warm regards,

Brig (Retd) CS Vidyasagar

The Bombay Sappers