By Maj Gen Satbir Singh (retd)
The Ministry of Defence had itself accepted
through affidavits and submissions before the SC that implementation of the
judgement in rank and pay would involve re-fixation of not only the Fourth Pay
Commission, but would affect successive pay commissions.
ONCE again the
Ministry of Defence has betrayed its soldiers. The Supreme Court judgement in
the rank pay case has not been implemented in letter and spirit, making it
largely redundant. The MoD has not only denied pay scale upgradation for
officers but also, as a result, left out re-fixation of pensions of those who
retired before January 1986 as well as consequential benefits to all officers
arising out of the implementation of the fifth and sixth pay commissions. This
is another case of bureaucratic manipulation against soldiers. The ministry’s
letter of December 27, 2012 is applicable to only about 20,000 officers who
were holding the rank of Captain to Brigadier on January 1, 1986, whereas it
should have covered all officers who are in receipt of pay or pension or family
pension which is about 80,000.
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A photo with caption "Navy personnel outside South Block, that houses
the Ministry of Defence, in New Delhi. The role played by the ministry in the
functioning of the Tribunal has been challenged in courts of law, with the
Supreme Court and High Courts ruling that tribunals are better placed under
the Ministry of Law" could not be reproduced
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The Apex Court clearly ruled that the rank pay
granted by the Fourth Pay Commission (FPC) was wrongly deducted from basic pay
and ordered re-fixation of pay “with effect from” and not “as on” January 1,
1986, as mentioned in the letter. The letter states that the judgement has no
bearing on fifth and sixth pay commissions, and that there shall be no change
in instructions issued thereof except those necessitated due to re-fixation of
pay on January 1, 1986.
The deduction of rank pay had resulted in
depressed scales and status, and once corrected should have resulted in
automatic upgradation of FPC scales as well as successive ones, as was fully
argued before the court and contained in the various affidavits filed by both
the petitioners and the UOI.
The MoD should be questioned as to how the rank of
Captain, which was shown before the Supreme Court as equal to Senior Time Scale
(STS) till the Third Pay Commission (TPC), was suddenly degraded in the FPC,
making STS equal to Major. There was no order by the FPC or any other authority
to degrade the rank and club it with Junior Time Scale (JTS). This shows
systematic degradation by the MoD without knowledge of the political executive.
Till TPC, Second Lieutenant and Lieutenant were
equated with JTS and Captain with STS. After the rank pay fiasco in the FPC,
three ranks, that is Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant and Captain were shown
clubbed with a single civilian rank of JTS. How could it be allowed that the
first military rank of Second Lieutenant along with two promotional ranks of
Lieutenant and Captain were all clubbed with the first civilian rank? All
happened because of the strange manipulations in the rank pay saga which have
now been corrected by the SC.
Similarly a Major drew pay equal to the Selection
Grade/Non-Functional Selection Grade of the civil services, but today an
SG/NFSG officer enjoys a status and draws a pay equal to a Colonel. Such
manipulations and degradation of status and sheen of the military rank continue
where civilian staff put up noting sheets and get approvals without taking into
confidence the military staff.
Stake-holders be consulted before taking decisions
that affect them, but it has always been a one-sided affair. The defence
minister should know that elements inimical to the soldier would ensure that he
does not get to know the correct situation and there is a huge gap between what
is projected to him and what is the reality.
The MoD had itself accepted through affidavits and
submissions before the SC that implementation of the judgement would involve
re-fixation of not only the FPC, but would affect successive pay commissions.
Further, it would alter payment of all consequential and resultant benefits of
officers and their families wherever applicable. In an affidavit seeking
extension of time for implementation of the judgement, the MoD had stated that
the judgement related to three successive pay commissions and also affected the
benefits of those who retired prior to 1986.
Then how can the MoD issue instructions contrary
to the above submission? The staff concerned has very carefully chosen to stick
on to certain words without looking at the spirit of the entire order and court
proceedings.
The judgement, which was to have a cascading
effect on the fixation of pay scales from January 1986 till date, has
fraudulently been made applicable only to those persons who were in receipt of
rank pay in January 1986.
The letter can easily be termed as “rarest of rare
fraud, perjury and Injustice to the defence forces”. How does the government
expect demoralised and demotivated officers to lead from the front and
sacrifice their lives when it is denying them their due respect, status, inter
se equation with other services and emoluments? Certainly the government has
clearly not been fair to defence personnel. The letter of December 27, 2012
should be withdrawn and a fresh letter incorporating all aspects of the SC
judgement correctly needs to be issued immediately.
By the kind courtesy of The Tribune, Chandigarh
dated 15 February 2013
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