Photo By Parveen Kumar
By 121 News
Chandigarh 24th
September:- Indian bureaucracy has been pursuing a relentless campaign in last
40 years to downgrade the status of defence forces personnel with respect
to All India Services. Their main aim is to reduce the status of a
commissioned officer equal to Group B services officers i.e. more or less
closer to officers of a state (HCS/PCS). Your kind attention is drawn to
the following issues and actions taken by bureaucracy. These points have
been discussed in the Seminar cum brainstorming session, which was organized by
Ex-Service men Movement Punjab at chandigarh press club here today. The session
was attend by Office Bearers of ESM-P ( Ex-servicemen
Movement Punjab ) Col B S Rangi-President ESM-P ( Ex-servicemen Movement Punjab
), Wing Cdr Gulzar Singh Mathauda-Vice President ESM-P, Col M S Bajwa-General
Secretary ESM-P, Maj P K Dharmani - Member Core Committee : Gave presentation
on Armed Forces Ranks vis-a-vis All India Civil Services. The Guest Speakers /on
the occasion were Lt Gen S S Brar, Lt Gen P N Hoon (Spoke on Martyrs Families
Welfare Initiatives) and Maj Gen Satbir Singh, who Spoke on OROP (One Rank One Pension).
a) ARTICLE 310 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA -The
Status of a defence forces personnel is clearly defined as equal, if not
superior to all India services, vide article 310 of the Constitution of India.
Yet repeated and continuous attempts have been made by bureaucracy in last 40
years to defy the Indian Constitution.
b) WARRANT OF PRECEDENCE - This
document, issued both by President Secretariat and Ministry of Home Affairs,
lays down the seniority and relative status of Government functionaries
starting from President of India till a Junior Clerk. Yet the bureaucrats in
Ministry of Defence have been deliberately ignoring it. Their last letter dated
October 2016 particularly has exceeded all the limits of proprietary and
have equated commissioned officer with group B section officer.
c) PAY COMMISSION REPORTS - Successive
Pay Commissions (all members are invariably from IAS/IPS cadre with no
representative of defence forces) since 1973 have reduced the pay allowances
and grade pays of defence forces thereby indirectly lowering their
status. This has particularly caused functional problems in various defence
organisations where civilian and military officials work together. The
insensitive bureaucracy has steadfastly brushed aside all representation
by defence forces and anomalies of even 4th Pay commission (1980) are still not
sorted out.
d) NFU AND OTHER CASES-MoD refuses to
implement NFU for Armed Forces Officers despite having been given to all
Group A services, and despite Armed Forces Tribunal judgment. It
refuses to provide file Notings related to reasons for denial of NFU, as main
reason being cited by Babus in MoD is that, AS PER THEM ARMED FORCES OFFICERS
CADRE IS NOT A GROUP A SERVICE, but a Group B service, to whom NFU is not
applicable, thereby deliberately downgrading our status with malafide
intentions.
e) FUNCTIONING OF MINISTRY OF DEFENCE -
i) Armed Forces Offers
have always been equated with All India Services Offrs. JCOs of Armed
Forces have been accorded status equivalent to Group B Gazetted officers by an Act
of Parliament vide Section 3
(xii) of Army Act 1950, but MoD has started equating them with Group C
employees. Lts, Capts and Majors are being equated with Group B Officers, Lt
Cols with Deputy Dir/ Under Secys (lowest Group A designation) and Cols with Jt
Dir/ Dy Secys (2nd Group A designation). A number of letters on
these degraded equations had been issued by MoD during last over 20 years and
they have issued their latest letter CAO/MoD Note No A/24577/CAO/CP
Cell dt 18 Oct 2016 equating Cols with Jt Dirs (2nd Group A designation),
and implying equivalence of Lt Cols with Dy Dirs (lowest Group A designation),
after misrepresenting facts to then RM.
ii) The entire case has been fabricated by civilian
babus over the years based on one fictitious/ non-existent unsigned letter
bearing MHA’s name dated Oct 1968, which quotes Warrant of Precedence to equate
Majors with Class II/ Group B Section Offers. When Services HQ finally took
notice of these issues, the civilian babus got a letter issued from MoD dt 18
Oct 2016, taking RM’s approval through misrepresentations, formalising the
downgraded equations. When lot of hue a cry was made by Armed Forces on Social
media, RM detailed a three member Committee in Nov 2016, under instructions
from PMO. However, this Committee has been detailed to establish Equivalence
not amongst Defence Officers and All India Services officers, but between Defence
Officers and AFHQ Civil Service officials, which is a Gp B Service Cadre. All
documents/Govt notifications/ legal provisions/ court judgements etc
regarding correct status of Defence Officers and JCOs are being brushed aside
by MoD bureaucracy, giving primacy only to their own illegal/ irregular
instructions.
iii) MoD bureaucracy has
refused to implement principle of Universal applicability of Supreme Court/ AFT
Orders and Ratio of Judgments having attained finality to others similarly
placed Ex-Servicemen. It implies that only those individuals ex-servicemen, who
have won a particular case even in the Supreme Court, are to be benefitted and similar
benefits arising out of the favourable judgments are being denied to similarly place
other ex-servicemen.
