ID :
21686
Sun, 09/28/2008 - 11:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21686
The shortlink copeid
PAY-DEFENCE
New Delhi, Sept 27 (PTI) Faced with unprecedented refusal from the three service chiefs to implement the "discriminatory" pay scales recommended by the 6th Pay Commission, the Government Saturday set up a high level ministerial committee to address their grievances.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will head the
three-member committee that includes Defence Minister A.K.
Antony and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to go into the
concerns of the armed forces who have complained that the Pay
Commission had put them at a disadvantage vis-a-vis civilian
bureaucracy.
Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor, Navy Chief Admiral
Sureesh Mehta and Air Chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major
who together command 1.5 million defence personnel, had come
together on the issue and decided not to implement the revised
pay scales from October one as was being done in the case of
other 3.5 million Central government employees.
However, the Services have now decided to accept
the revised pay scales for the moment and submit their salary
bills to the Defence Ministry on Monday.
The three-member committee was constituted following a
direction from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is currently
abroad.
In Thiruvananthapuram, the Defence Minister said the
grievances of defence services personnel over pay scales would
be settled soon and they would be "getting their pay in new
scales by Diwali."
"We are taking up the issue seriously. We hope we would
be able to find a solution to the issue. All of them would be
getting their pay in new scales by Diwali," Antony told a
press meet.
The recommendations of Pay Commission is by and
large an improvement from the previous commission. "Still
there were some issues, and we would be making serious efforts
to solve them," Antony said.
Asked how he viewed the reports that angry service
personnel were declining to draw their pay, he shot back
claiming "nothing like that, these are media reports."
The armed forces had Friday refused to accept the
revised pay scales and did not submit the salary bills for
October.
However, the defence forces have now agreed to accept the
pay scales with the existing "anomalies", but would wait for a
decision of the Mukherjee committee.
Consequently, all defence personnel would receive new pay
along with 40 percent arrears on October 1.
"All personnel of the armed force will receive the new
pay and arrears on October 1. And the draft notification in
this regard will be submitted by the three forces to Defence
Ministry by Monday morning," the government said.
The armed forces have been vociferously protesting
against the "anomalies" in the C.P.C. notification issued late
last month and have been knocking the doors of the top
political leadership of the country for resolving the four
"core issues" they had with the revised pay scales.
While Antony has personally taken up the cause of the
defence personnel and written a letter to both the Prime
Minister and the Finance Minister on the issue, the Navy chief
too had presented their grievances to the PM earlier this
month.
The armed forces have been demanding that the government
restore 70 percent "extant pensionary weightage" to jawans by
deferring the C.P.C. recommended 50 percent weightage on the
last salary drawn by them before retirement. This has been
accepted in principle.
Defence forces also wanted the government to place the
Lieutenant Colonels and their equivalent in the Navy and Air
Force in Pay Band-4 (Rs 37,400-67,000), a privilege extended
to their civilian counterparts by the C.P.C., instead of Pay
Band-3 (15,600-39,100).
They also wanted the government to restore Grade Pay
parity between the middle rung defence officers from Captain
to Brigadier with their civilian and paramilitary
counterparts.
The last "anomaly" the defence forces point out in C.P.C.
is the creation of a new Higher Administrative Grade Plus pay
scale in which the civilian and police Director Generals have
been placed.
The Services want the government to accord the 'Plus'
status to their Lieutenant Generals too, who have been placed
in a lower Higher Administrative Grade under the CPC.
PTI NCB
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will head the
three-member committee that includes Defence Minister A.K.
Antony and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to go into the
concerns of the armed forces who have complained that the Pay
Commission had put them at a disadvantage vis-a-vis civilian
bureaucracy.
Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor, Navy Chief Admiral
Sureesh Mehta and Air Chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major
who together command 1.5 million defence personnel, had come
together on the issue and decided not to implement the revised
pay scales from October one as was being done in the case of
other 3.5 million Central government employees.
However, the Services have now decided to accept
the revised pay scales for the moment and submit their salary
bills to the Defence Ministry on Monday.
The three-member committee was constituted following a
direction from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is currently
abroad.
In Thiruvananthapuram, the Defence Minister said the
grievances of defence services personnel over pay scales would
be settled soon and they would be "getting their pay in new
scales by Diwali."
"We are taking up the issue seriously. We hope we would
be able to find a solution to the issue. All of them would be
getting their pay in new scales by Diwali," Antony told a
press meet.
The recommendations of Pay Commission is by and
large an improvement from the previous commission. "Still
there were some issues, and we would be making serious efforts
to solve them," Antony said.
Asked how he viewed the reports that angry service
personnel were declining to draw their pay, he shot back
claiming "nothing like that, these are media reports."
The armed forces had Friday refused to accept the
revised pay scales and did not submit the salary bills for
October.
However, the defence forces have now agreed to accept the
pay scales with the existing "anomalies", but would wait for a
decision of the Mukherjee committee.
Consequently, all defence personnel would receive new pay
along with 40 percent arrears on October 1.
"All personnel of the armed force will receive the new
pay and arrears on October 1. And the draft notification in
this regard will be submitted by the three forces to Defence
Ministry by Monday morning," the government said.
The armed forces have been vociferously protesting
against the "anomalies" in the C.P.C. notification issued late
last month and have been knocking the doors of the top
political leadership of the country for resolving the four
"core issues" they had with the revised pay scales.
While Antony has personally taken up the cause of the
defence personnel and written a letter to both the Prime
Minister and the Finance Minister on the issue, the Navy chief
too had presented their grievances to the PM earlier this
month.
The armed forces have been demanding that the government
restore 70 percent "extant pensionary weightage" to jawans by
deferring the C.P.C. recommended 50 percent weightage on the
last salary drawn by them before retirement. This has been
accepted in principle.
Defence forces also wanted the government to place the
Lieutenant Colonels and their equivalent in the Navy and Air
Force in Pay Band-4 (Rs 37,400-67,000), a privilege extended
to their civilian counterparts by the C.P.C., instead of Pay
Band-3 (15,600-39,100).
They also wanted the government to restore Grade Pay
parity between the middle rung defence officers from Captain
to Brigadier with their civilian and paramilitary
counterparts.
The last "anomaly" the defence forces point out in C.P.C.
is the creation of a new Higher Administrative Grade Plus pay
scale in which the civilian and police Director Generals have
been placed.
The Services want the government to accord the 'Plus'
status to their Lieutenant Generals too, who have been placed
in a lower Higher Administrative Grade under the CPC.
PTI NCB
