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| Defence forces take up pay grievances with FinMin | | | New Delhi | Sep 10
With the Armed Forces insisting on removal of "anomalies" in the 6th Pay Commission, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) Chairman Sureesh Mehta has taken up the matter with Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Mehta, who is the Navy Chief, explained "disparities" and "lowering of status" of the Defence personnel by the "anomalies in the pay commission" during his meeting with Chidambaram yesterday.
"Admiral Mehta met the Finance Minister to explain the details of the core issues," according to a Defence Ministry official.
However, the matter "may not figure" in tomorrow's Cabinet meeting as Defence Minister A K Antony, who is abroad, will not attend the meeting.
Mehta, on the other hand, met Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan and apprised him of the problem to ensure its early redressal.
"These meetings took place at the behest of the highest political leadership and we hope the core issues are resolved," the official said.
Stating that the Defence forces were happy with the attention their issues were getting in the political leadership, defence sources said they are convinced that the issues were understood well by the government.
In a series of letters, including one submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Armed Forces have raised four issues concerning officers and Personnel Below Officer Ranks (PBORs).
They have noted that placing of Lt-Cols in the Pay Band-3, while improving the scales of the similarly-placed civilian and paramilitary forces to higher Pay Band-4, was unacceptable.
The armed forces said this anomaly would cause serious functional and operational disharmony when the two groups would have to work together, which they do frequently.
Another issue they raised was that of the Grade Pay "disparities" for Captain to Colonels, whose civilian counterparts would take home higher Grade Pay under the current pay commission recommendations.
They sought restoration of parity in the Grade Pay too, as it existed under the 5th Pay Commission, by equating the Armed Forces officers' Grade Pay to that of the civilian officers.
On creation of a new pay band of Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) Plus, they sought that Lt-Gen and their equivalents in Navy and Air Force be placed under the new HAG Plus, as that of Director Generals in civilian services.
For PBORs, Mehta said their "extant pensionary weightage" be restored till the time the proposal for lateral entry for them into paramilitary and central police forces was approved and implemented. |
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