Six Pay Commission | Antony favours armed forces, wants anomalies in Sixth CPC sorted out

Defence Minister A K Antony has strongly favoured sorting out of anomalies in the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC) notification raised by the three services chiefs in their representation to the government.

In his latest letter to Finance Minister P Chidambaram this week, Antony raised the issues, including the ones relating to Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBORs), top Defence Ministry sources said in New Delhi on Friday.

Yes, the Defence Minister has written a letter to the Finance Minister in which he has raised certain issues relating to the disparities that has crept into the pay commission notification, the sources confirmed.

Among the issues raised by Antony was the one relating to the extant pensionary weightage and sought that it be restored till the time the proposal for lateral entry for them into paramilitary and central police forces was approved and implemented.

Under the Sixth CPC proposal, the PBORs are to be given an opportunity for lateral entry into the paramilitary and central police forces, but they would forego 50 per cent of their pension calculated on the basis of their last drawn pay at retirement.

But the government is yet to approve the proposal for lateral entry, which has led to a situation where the PBORs lose out both on re-employment and pension fronts.

Most PBORs retire at a relatively young age of about 35 years, after putting in about 15 to 17 years of service in the armed forces, a move aimed at keeping the fighting force young.

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Dangerous split between the armed forces and the paramilitary

A dangerous split between the armed forces and the paramilitary, arising from the revised Sixth Pay Commission report, could have disastrous consequences for joint operations in troubled regions, the military has told the PMO.

Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Navy chief and chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee, has cautioned the government that the relationship between the two sits on a tinderbox and infighting would “seriously jeopardise” operations.

The revised report has altered the existing parity between the armed forces and Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF)/Group A services and IAS by retaining lieutenant colonels in a lower pay band than their paramilitary and civilian counterparts. Pay scales have tradition- ally determined status among government officials.

Mehta told the PMO that ascendancy gained by paramilitary would “seriously hamper command and control functions between the army and the Border Security Force/CPMF”.

Success of military operations hinge on the efficiency of command and control. After briefing the PM on “core issues” last week, Mehta met finance minister P. Chidambaram and MoS in the PMO Prithviraj Chauhan on Tuesday Military sources said Mehta has told the PMO that perks of higher status given to CPMF/civilian officers, and denied to equally placed service officers, would result in despondency among them. “A CPMF officer whose pay parity was below a lieutenant colonel in the 4th and 5th pay panel reports has been elevated to the pay scale of a Colonel. This will not be acceptable to either the lieutenant colonel or the Colonel,” a senior army officer told HT.

Another “serious error” pointed out by Mehta includes exclusion of lieutenant generals and equivalent from the Higher Administrative Grade pay band. Only army commanders and DGPs and equivalent figure in this grade.

He has also sought the intervention of the PMO to provide the HAG+ pay band for lieutenant generals and equivalent holding posts of principal staff officers, director general and controllers in the services.

Points of Friction

• Revised pay panel report has altered existing parity by retaining lieutenant colonels in a lower pay band than their paramilitary counterparts
• Perks of higher status given to CPMF/civilian officers, not to equally placed service officers

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Six Pay Commission | Armed Forces take Pay Panel Grievances to PMO

Unhappy with the lowering of parity in payscales in comparison with the bureaucracy and paramilitary forces, the armed forces have drawn Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s attention to the issue rising from the Sixth Pay Coommission’s recommendations.

The Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman and Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta met the prime minister on Thursday and discussed the issue with him.

“Admiral Mehta has gone to the prime minister to brief him about his recent visit to Japan and South Korea and seized the opportunity to draw his attention to the erosion of parity between the armed forces officers and their civilian and paramilitary counterparts,” a senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It is understood that the prime minister assured the naval chief that he would consider the issue.

Ahead of meeting the prime minister, Mehta wrote to Defence minister A K Antony on September 1 that these “core issues” would affect the joint operations of the armed forces and paramilitary forces. He also asked the cabinet, rather than the anomalies committee, to consider their demands over the pay panel report.

“The command and control functions will be seriously hampered between the army, BSF (Border Security Force) and CPMF (Central Paramilitary Forces), and infighting will jeopardize the operations,” the letter says.

The reviewed report of the Sixth Pay Commission has upgraded the civilian and paramilitary counterparts of officers of the rank of lieutenant colonel and equivalent to the higher pay band. Due to this, civilian officers who were in the lower pay bracket and were hitherto drawing lesser pay than lieutenant colonels and officers of equivalent rank would now draw a higher basic salary.

Following the revised report, even a short service commissioned officer in the paramilitary forces will get a higher pay than most permanent commissioned officers in the armed forces.