Defence forces to get special hearing from 7th pay panel
NEW DELHI: The armed forces are finally in for a special hearing, with the Centre likely to separately deal with issues pertaining to their service conditions and payment structures in the 7th Central Pay Commission. The Union government, however, has not accepted the demand for military representation on the pay panel.
The terms of reference for the 7th CPC, to be cleared by the Cabinet, will for the first time include a paragraph on the defence forces. It has come in response to intense lobbying by the defence ministry and the armed forces, with the latter for long complaining of a “raw deal” compared to their civilian counterparts in the fixation of salaries by the central panel.
According to the terms of reference, the pay panel will examine the salary structure and benefits, including retirement benefits, with “due emphasis on the aspects unique to these (military) personnel”. The allowances could be reviewed in view of the hardships, both in terms of operations and frequent transfers, associated with military service.
The focus on the defence forces comes in the wake of the massive unrest triggered by the 6th CPC report which led to the three Service chiefs lodging serious complaints about the recommendations.
There is another plus for the defence forces, with Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur to chair the pay commission. He has been the chairman of the Armed Forces Tribunal and the government says he is conversant with the issues related to defence forces.
Thus, while keeping a representative of the defence forces has not been accepted on the grounds that it would lead to similar demand from other specialized services, the presence of the chair is sent to indirectly meet the demand.
While the pay panel is a populist move given the vast vote base that government employees make, the defence community of 14 lakh serving and 23 lakh retired military personnel itself swells into a sizeable – albeit diffused – vote bank of around 1.5 crore people if family members are also taken into account.
The government was rattled by the widespread anger in the armed forces in 2008-2009 when they complained that successive pay panels had failed to address their long-pending pay and pension “anomalies”. Hundreds of ex-servicemen continue to protest by returning their medals even today over the failure of successive governments to implement the one-rank, one-pension principle despite it being promised by most parties in their manifestoes.
In June last year, defence minister A K Antony had written a frantic letter to PM Manmohan Singh to express alarm over the “growing discontentment” among the armed forces, which led to the constitution of a committee under cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth to look into their grievances.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Why not the experience of Armed Forces Personnel can be utilised by different Govt Depts by enrolling them in the corresponding pay scale at their retirement stage by filling the vacancies in various Govt Depts. Especially Armed Forces Personnel can do better in Defence Ministry, PAO (OR) and Record Offices. This possibility can be explored so that this will mitigate the problems of early age retiree from Armed Forces as well as deficiency of expert manpower in different Govt Dept.
Sir,
1. There is a great lacuna in the retirement age of Sub Maj of Indian Army. There are three condition ie Ist age, 2nd -service and 3rd – 4 years service in Sub Maj rank. A Sub Maj will retire on date which ever comes first from the following :-
(a) 34 years of age or 54 years of service or 4 years of turn as Sub Maj.
2. In case a Subedar gets early promotion in his service of less then 30 years then he will complete his turn as subedar major before completion of 34 years of service and he has to retire either his age is below 54. This ruling has badly affected many subedar major and they has to retire even in their total service of 25 or less. The 7 CPC is requested to look into this issue.
The retirement age of airmen in air force is 57 years, and also the retirement age of MCPO1 and MCPO2 of navy is upto 57 years. Why the retirement age of JCOs in Army is upto 52 years.
The retirement age of officers in Armed Forces is not less than 58 Years. So it is requested to increase the retirement age of subedar of supporting force of Indian Army(AMC, ASC, Signal, Ordinance, CMP, etc.) upto at least 57 years and a case may be forwarded to higher authority of 7th Pay commission for consideration so that 1000s of JCOs will be benefited and they are no linger be dependent for a search of another service in life for the settlement of their children.
Thanking You Sir
Son of a Serving Subedar in AMC