Four issues pertaining
to Ex serviceman
POINT NO 1: ONE RANK
ONE PENSION (OROP)
One rank One Pension
(OROP) has been an emotive issue with the Ex Servicemen since 1980 when it was
first mooted. Faced with truncated career, early retirement, loss of life’s
earning and with no hope for a second career the demand was seen as a saving grace
to meet obligations of a retired life. The issue also got exploited in the
manifesto of political parties to serve as a vote bank to being mentioned in
the opening address of the President to both the ‘Houses’ of the Parliament. A
number of Standing Committees of the Parliament examined the issue and every
time it was recommended strongly but the implementation was scuttled by the
bureaucracy on some flimsy ground.
Even the Rajya Sabha
Petitions Committee under the Chairmanship of Bhagat Singh Koshyari recommended
it strongly as late as Dec 2011. Yet again OROP is before the Committee of
Secretaries to be examined de novo. From 1980 to 2012 the issue has remained
alive with the Ex servicemen from holding rallies to depositing of their hard
earned ‘Medals’ to the President Of India, but OROP is yet to see the light of
the day. Even now there is hope but no despair.
In the intervening
period certain developments have taken place, which have changed the dimensions
of OROP and need to be considered. With the introduction of Non Functional Up
Gradation (NFU) by the VI CPC for all Gp A Services in Pay Band 3 and 4 and
Military Service Pay for Armed Forces, there is a need to re examine the
proposal of OROP so that the Ex Servicemen are not losers once again.
NFU and OROP
NFU has been discussed
in Part I for extension to AF personnel. It has relevance to fixation of
pension for retirees also. For example; 1982 batch of IAS has been empanelled
for promotion to Addl Secy. So all Gp A services of 1980 seniority would be
eligible for pay and pension of Addl Secy who is in HAG+ grade with pension of
Rs 37750/-. Comparatively only 0.02% AF officers reach the level of Lt General.
This is gross injustice to AF offrs.
99% of the AF offrs retire
at the rank of COL at the age of 54 yrs with a pension of Rs 26050 inclusive of
MSP. Under NFU most of Gp B Civs will be able to attain that; the level of
Director which is considered equivalent to COL. So what are you going to gain
effectively with OROP is a COL’s pension. AF again stand to loose with status
further being lowered to Gp B Services.
So OROP in its present form is not suitable to AF officers
unless NFU is extended to AF also and that to at the same level as given to civ
GP A employees. Even for JCOs/ORs, OROP is a misnomer as none of them are able
to get the third career progression due to early retirement affecting their
pension directly. There is therefore a need to re examine OROP in view of
changed norms like NFU and Military Service Pay.
RE FIXATION OF PENSION OF PRE 2006 AF RETIREES (OFFRS)
The pensions fixed under VI CPC have created an anomaly by
fixing pensions of Lt Col to Major General by taking minimum of pay band of PB
4(Rs 37400) as the base pension rather than minimum of the pay in the pay band
corresponding to the rank held at the time of retirement. This has resulted in
a difference in pension due to grade pay only ranging from Rs 150 to Rs 500
where as the difference in pension of a Major (Rs 14100) and Lt Col (Rs 25700) is
Rs 11600 and that between Maj General (Rs27500) & Lt General (Rs 37750) is
Rs 10250 resp.
Re fixation of pay in the case of serving AF pers has already
been dealt in Part I. Once their pay is
refixed there will be a corresponding increase in the pension of pre 2006
retirees, provided the benefit is extended to them also else it will lead to another
litigation as has happened in the case of IV CPC rank pay case. It would be
pertinent to mention the anomaly created
due to the implementation of Ajai Vikram Singh report with a cut off date
of 16 Dec 2004. As a fall out of this report the substantive promotion by time
scale to the rank of Maj (6 yrs), Lt Col (13 yrs) and Col (26 yrs) got fixed.
Offrs who were in service as on 16 Dec 2004 got promoted to the rank of Col
with pay and pension leaving out those who retired a day earlier to get pension
of Lt Col. A totally un justified
proposition. Majors with 26 yrs of commissioned service were the worst
affected and got the pension of Major (Rs 14100) being in pay band 3
(Rs15600-39000/-) by taking minimum of the pay band.
Prior to IV CPC the rank of Major was attained on completion of
13 yrs service and that to Lt Col by time scale at 22yrs. IV CPC reduced
promotion to Major on completion of 11 yrs service. AVS report further reduced
promotion to Major on completion of 6yrs service and Lt Col at 13 yrs service.
So by all accounts a Pre 2006 Major who has put in 13 yrs commissioned service
should get minimum pension of Lt Col and not that of Maj at six yrs. It is logical
that if an officer (Lt Col TS/Lt Col (Sel)/ Maj) has put in 26 yrs of
commissioned service, he should be granted pension of COL irrespective of rank
attained. Anything other than this would be against norms of natural justice.
Presuming that the pay of COL would be refixed at Rs 42120 as
minimum of pay in the pay band and with grade pay of Rs 10000/- the pension of
pre 2006 Col will work out to be Rs 29060/- and not Rs 26050 as being given
now. This should be made applicable to all officers who have put in minimum of
26 yrs commissioned service. Pension for lesser / more number of yrs of service
can be tabulated accordingly. This will
also resolve the anomaly in the pension of past Majors.
It is also hoped that the pay of Brig and Maj General would be
refixed in HAG & HAG+ grade. This would increase their pension
substantially and if the NFU is extended to AF then their pension would reach
the level of Lt General at Rs 37750/- as being given to Civ Gp A services.
PENSION FOR JCOs/ORs
In simple terms OROP means that two persons retiring from the same rank with same no of yrs of service should get the same pension irrespective of date of retirement.As explained earlier, JCOs/ORs will never be able to reach the top of their pay bands due to early retirement. The options available for grant of pension to JCOs/ORs are:
(a) 75% of last pay
drawn as existed at III CPC till 60yrs and thereafter reduced to 50% coupled
with OROP.
(b) Separate pay band
with a higher start so that adequate compensation is given coupled with OROP.
(c) OROP so that the
existing and past pensioners are at par. The pension can be revised after every
five yrs as it may not be administratively feasible to do so on a yearly basis.
The para titled "RE FIXATION OF PENSION OF PRE 2006 AF RETIREES (OFFRS)" further rationalises the issue raised in my blog post, which I have now edited by providing a link to this blog post.
ReplyDeleteIf the anomalies committee does proceed to actually rationalise these anomalies, it would be a major step forward in extricating the situation from the ad-hoc and arbitrary fixation of 16 Dec 2004 as the effective date of phase-I implementation of recommendations of AVS Committee, the arbitrariness of date-selection being no reflection on the Committee itself.
In continuation of my previous comment, following the recent announcement of enhancement of pensions, it's doubtful if the concerns expressed in the para in this blog-post, titled RE FIXATION OF PENSION OF PRE 2006 AF RETIREES (OFFRS), have been fully addressed by the Govt.
ReplyDeleteThough the pension of a pre-2006 Col/Col(TS) retiree may not have gone up to 29060/- as suggested in this blog post, but at the revised level of Rs. 27795/- it will be significantly higher than the revised level of Rs.26265/- for Lt Col/Lt Col(TS).
Pre-Dec04 PC Maj/Lt Col(TS)/Lt Col retirees with more than 26 years of service may have to consider obtaining a parity in their pensions with that of a pre 01 Jan 2006 Col(TS) retiree through the alternate means of representation/legal redressal.
very good and well brought out. I,recall those times in 1987, when i found serious anomalies in SAI 1987 post 4CPC,i initiated a statement of case of 25 pages and forwarded to AHQ through proper channels for corrective action. I have also followed up through QSIR and other avenues/approaches.They did not do any thing,but tried to harass and intimidate me from highest level of COAS.Obvious,that fauxpas was their creation.people responsible for that mischif amounting to cheating (often ref as anomaly ).That was absolutely wrong fixation (it was rank fixing) and the aspect got rectified to some extent through Dhanapalan court case and recent supreme court judgement after 27 yrs with so much of effort by GOI to deny.
ReplyDeleteTimes have changed.there was no internet in those days and effected people could not communicate.Therefore , (the effected lot) have to act decisively promptly by diverse approaches and methods.
Your points are perfectly legitimate and good for AF.All these esms may not do much rather than some noise/lip service( they would even resist NFU in AF ).
Therefore,continue to interact,propagate and further think of effective approach and action.
Some of us are nearer to graves,not connected to so many changes in recent past and thus cont do much.Yeah,in 1987 i had completed more than 26 yrs of service and quit the service on voluntary retirement (not premature ,a deregatory word coined by AHQ).
YOUR BLOG IS GOOD. YOUR PTS ON EQUATION OF PRE 1994 RKS AND NFU HAVE TO BE DERIVED (sqeezed like milking a he buffalow ,a punjabi quote ).WE, should act upon now and before 7cpc and at the time of 7cpc with all inputs to the commission.An organised/associated approach will have better effect.Of course diverse approaches incl individual approaches will ultimately lead to achivement . case ex DHANAPALAN ,real AG.
A rational and well presented analysis. Considering the number of veteran officers affected, perhaps RDOA need to take up some of the anomalies listed here. The affected veteran Officers would probably be more than willing to rally round for supporting the cause.
ReplyDeletewhy do the armed forces have no anomalies committees like they have on or civ counterparts side where the staff side and govt side thrash out and continuosly keep issuing amendments and circulars clarifying the issues
ReplyDeleteApropos of the blog-post para titled RE FIXATION OF PENSION OF PRE 2006 AF RETIREES (OFFRS), it now needs to be mentioned that following the recent implementation of the enhanced minimum pensions for pre-2006 Officer retirees, some of the disparities have also got enhanced, as listed here.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a fresh blog-post here, or on the RDOA Blog, could help to generate discussions whether a remedy is possible.
In view of an inadvertent deletion of the blog-post linked to in the comment above, a full gist of the relevant disparities could be accessed here.
Delete