The petitioner had contended that the morale of
officers of the armed forces has been lowered by the government by non-grant of
the NFU and thus lowering the established status of the armed forces officers
since independence.
The
bench comprising the officiating chairperson of the AFT, Justic BP Katakey and
Lt Gen Sanjiv Langer today delivered the judgement on the petition which had
been reserved some weeks back.
In a verdict, which meets the long-standing demand
of thousands of defence services officers, the principal bench of the Armed
Forces Tribunal (AFT) in New Delhi has allowed a petition demanding
Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU) for defence officers on the pattern of civil
services officers of Group ‘A’ services. The bench comprising the officiating
chairperson of the AFT, Justic BP Katakey and Lt Gen Sanjiv Langer today
delivered the judgement on the petition which had been reserved some weeks
back. Col Mukul Dev of the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Branch was the
principal petitioner in the case which also has around 500 serving Army
officers as co-petitioners.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Col Rajiv Manglik
(retd) advocate for the petitioners said, “NFU been allowed as given to defence
officers on the pattern of civilian officers as given by the 6th Pay Commission
and it will be applicable for all three services-Army, Navy and the Air Force.
It has also been stated if NFU is implemented for civilians in 7th Pay
Commission it will be given to armed forces officers also. The advocate also
said that the bench has allowed arrears for NFU for a period not exceeding
three years from the date of the judgement. “The AFT has also denied the leave
to appeal in the Supreme Court to the respondents ie. the Union of India,” said
Col Manglik.
The petitioner had contended that the morale of
officers of the armed forces has been lowered by the government by non-grant of
the NFU and thus lowering the established status of the armed forces officers
since independence. He had also argued that the stagnation in the armed forces
is more acute than the civil services and that the denial is in clear violation
of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution “as the equals since independence have
been made unequals”.
It was also argued that the purpose of grant of NFU
is not to equate the monetary benefits or earnings enjoyed by a particular
service, but it is granted with the aim to remove the stagnation due to the
acute shortage of vacancies and grant parity of promotional avenues within the
IAS with stipulated lead of two years to the IAS.
The petitioner had said that the parity established
since independence and upheld by the pay commissions in succession between the
armed forces and the All India Services/ Group ‘A’ services and IPS in
particular has been disturbed and the petitioner has been deprived of the
benefits extended to his counter parts in parity in the civil services.
It had been contended that the armed forces officers
cadre meets all the attributes attached to the Group ‘A’ organised service. The
petition says that the NFU has been denied on the pretext that Military Service
Pay (MSP) has been given to armed forces officers. Citing this as a “gross
mis-concept” the petition said that the grant of NFU is to alleviate the acute
stagnation in service, whereas the MSP and other allowances is due to the
postings at various difficult terrain and living conditions.
It was also pointed out that there are a number of
Group ‘A’ services, which do not meet all the criteria for the group, yet they
have been awarded NFU. The services mentioned are Indian Legal Service and
Indian Trade Service, Indian Statistical service, Indian Economic service and
Central Information service.
What is NFU?
Non Functional Upgrade (NFU) entitles an IAS
officer and other Group ‘A’ services officers of the civil services to get the
pay scale of the highest promoted officer of their batch even if he or she is
not promoted to the same rank. This higher grade is given two years after the
batchmate achieves the promotion. The aim of giving NFU is to alleviate the
stagnation in the service due to non-promotion. Due to the steep pyramid of
promotion in armed forces hierarchy, a large number of officers do not make it
to the next selection rank. However, NFU has not been made applicable to armed
forces. The Delhi High Court in its recent judgement has held that NFU is also
applicable to officers of the central paramilitary forces.
By the kind courtesy of :
The Indian Express Online Media Pvt Ltd
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/aft-allows-petition-seeking-nfu-for-defence-officers-at-par-with-group-a-services-4441872/
Our government never gave a decision in favour of the Armed Forces directly, all welfare measures are always routed through the courts of law. when will they get in to correct way governance?
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