Govt. partially agrees to armed forces' demand on salaries
New Delhi (PTI): Partially accepting demands of the armed forces for parity in salaries with their civilian counterparts, the government has issued orders for placing officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and equivalents in the pay band-4 (PB-4).
The government's orders in the regard were received by the Serviceson Monday, Defence Ministry sources said. But the issues of Lt Cols getting grade pay equal to their IAS counterparts, and command and control are yet to be resolved.
As per the new orders, Lt Cols will now be in upgraded pay bracket of Rs 37,400-67,000 (PB-4) with a grade pay of Rs 8,000 from the earlier scale of Rs 15,600-39,100 (PB-3) with grade pay of Rs 7,600. The Services were demanding a grade pay of Rs 8,700 for this pay band created after the 6th Pay Commission recommendations.
With upgraded pay-scales, Lt Cols and their equivalents in the other two services will now be senior to deputy secretaries in central government, directors in state governments and senior superintendents of police, commandants (junior grade) in the Coast Guard and the non-functional selective grade in central engineering services, they said.
As per the letter issued by a senior Defence Ministry official, PB-4 would now be applicable to tenure postings with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Director General (Quality Assurance) and National Cadet Corps as these organisations fall within the purview of the ministry and the pay allowances are paid from the its budget.
Officers on deputation and training on foreign assignments would also be in PB-4.
Officers posted with organisations such as Assam Rifles, National Security Guards and Border Road Organisation (BRO) will also benefit from the government's move.
Only a handful of Lt Col level officers would now be left in the PB-3. "Officers on deputation to organisations such as National Highway Authority, Railways, Pawan Hans and state governments, where the nature of duty is not in line with normal combat profile of service personnel, would draw PB-3 scales," a source said.
It said the number of such officers in the three services would be less than 50.
Officers are expected to get the revised salaries from next month, sources said.
Last month, in a letter to the Defence Ministry, tri-services' Principal Personnel Officers Committee chairman Vice-Admiral D K Dewan had last month said the armed forces wanted all Lt Cols to be placed under the Pay B and 4 including those on deputation to paramilitary and other services.
The armed forces had told Defence Ministry that it did not favour another PMO proposal to not to send Lt Cols on deputation to other services.
It said the services and the rules governing them did not make any distinction and that all of the officers were performing combat/ready-to-combat jobs.
Dewan had written the letter replying to a verbal query from the Defence Ministry on a December 31 PMO note that the government proposed to place only those Lt Cols serving in "combat/ready-to-combat" roles in Army, Navy and Air Force the Pay Band-4 benefits.
Officers always lament just for their problems and not even talk about PBORs who have got similar problems.Here are some examples which shows that PBORs too have been given less grade pay and placed in lower pay bands as compared with their civilain counterparts:
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Corporal Group X, old scale 4150-70-5200 Grade pay 2400.
Station Officer in Fire fighting staff old scale 4000-100-6000 grade pay 2800.
2. Sergeant Group X (Diploma Scale), old scale 5000-100-6500 Grade pay 2800.
Head Clerk/Assistant Gr II/Steno/Primary Teacher Gr III old scale 4500-7000 Grade pay 4200 (PB2).
3. JWO Group X, old scale 5770-140-8290 Grade pay 4200.
Primary Teacher Gr II old scale 5500-9000 Grade pay 4600.
4. Warrant Officer Group X old scale 6750-190-9790 grade pay 4600.
Primary Teacher Gr I old scale 6500-10500 Grade pay 4800.
5. MWO Group X old scale 7400-200-10200 Grade pay 4800.
Section Officer/PS in Secretariat old scale 6500-10500 Grade pay 4800 on completion of 4 years 5400 (upgraded to PB3).
These are just some examples more can be seen at http://india.gov.in/govt/studies/revised.pdf. I know Grade pay have been determined by taking the higher limit of old scale, but this rule itself is at fault and increases the disparity between soldiers and civilians. In Vth pay CPC increments of PBORs were lesser as compared to civilians, making the higher limit of scale less. The structure old scales of PBORs were different when compared with civilianian counterparts. So they cannot be compared with higer scale of old pay. If some comaprison is to be made it must be on the basis of task they undertake. (A Technician doing the maintenance & servicing on highly sofisticated aircrafts cannot be kept below fire station officer or primary teacher.)SO OFFICERS PLEASE DON’T EXPRESS THE PROBLEM OF GRADE PAY ONLY AS YOURS, BEACAUSE IT IS THE PROBLEM OF WHOLE SERVICE. JUST TRY TO LOOK INTO THE PROBLEMS OF YOUR SUBORDINATES IN TURN YOU WILL GAIN SOMETHING.