7th Pay Commission interacts with the delegates of CG Employees including Army, Air Force, Para Military Forces, Central Armed Police Forces

7th CPC team visits NE region to interact with stakeholders

The Seventh Central Pay Commission visited the North East region for interaction and to obtain inputs/views from the stakeholders, a defence spokesperson said.

The four-member Central Pay Commission (CPC) team headed by its Chairman Justice A K Mathur based its activites out of Shillong in Meghalaya for three days concluding on Tuesday.

During their visit, the team interacted with a wide array of stakeholders from Union Government services, including the Army, Air Force, Para Military Forces, Central Armed Police Forces and their family members, PRO Defence, Shillong, Group Captain Amit Mahajan said.

The focus of the CPC was to get first-hand information from various union government organisations, troops and their families deployed in different areas of the NE region, he said.

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Contempt Powers to Armed Forces Tribunals

Contempt Powers to Armed Forces Tribunals

The provisions of clause (1) of Section 19 of Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007 (55 of 2007) has given power to the Tribunal to punish for `criminal contempt`. There is no power vested with AFT in respect of `civil contempt`. 

The Ministry of Defence has agreed `in principle` to amend section 19 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007, for implementation of AFT Orders/Judgements more effectively. 

This information was given by Minister of Defence Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri A.A. Jinnah in Rajya Sabha today

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Implementation of One Rank One Pension

Improvement in pension is an ongoing process. Though the demand for One Rank One Pension (OROP) has been considered by various Committees in the past but it has not been found feasible to accept it. However, keeping in mind the spirit of the demand a Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary to look into the issue of OROP and other related matters, which submitted its report on 30.6.2009. The Committee made seven recommendations to substantially improve pensionary benefits of Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) and Commissioned Officers, which have been accepted by the Government. Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence has accordingly issued orders in implementation of the same vide Government letters dated 30.10.2009, 19.1.2010, 20.1.2010 & 8.3.2010 which are also available on www.pcdapension.nic.in. These orders have substantially increased the pension of pre 2006 retirees. 

The yearly statement of booking of Defence Pension Expenditure during and up to the month of March ending (2009-2010 & 2010-2011) shows that the total amount allotted for Defence Pension Expenditure has been booked in full and no amount is lying unspent. Further as per the reports received from various pension disbursing authorities including Public Sector Banks/Private Sector Banks almost 98.5% cases requiring revision have been cleared. Only few cases are pending for revision, which are also being pursued for early settlement. 

The process of revision of pension is being monitored regularly by the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (ESW), Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) and the Department of Financial Services. 

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri MM PAllam Raju in written reply to Shri K.E. Ismail in Rajya Sabha . 

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Shortage of Officers in Armed Forces

Shortage of Officers in Armed Forces

The total number of men and women officers serving in the Indian Army is 35605 and 1020 respectilvely (excluding Army Medical Corps, Army Dental Corps and Military Nursing Services). At present, the shortfall in the number of officers in the Army is 11137. 

Government have allowed re-employment of retired Brigadiers against some staff/instructional/other appointments. The number of re-employed retired Brigadiers is limited to a maximum ten per cent of the authorised strength of the re-employed officers. 

The Government has been taking steps on a continuous and an ongoing basis to reduce shortage of officers. All officers including those in Short Service Commission (SSC) are now eligible to hold substantive rank of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel after 2, 6 and 13 years of reckonable service respectively. The tenure of SSC officers has been increased from 10 years to 14 years. A total number of 750 posts of Lt. Colonel have been upgraded to Colonel towards implementation of AV Singh Committee Report (Phase-I). Further, 1,896 additional posts in the ranks of Colonel, Brigadier, Major General and Lieutenant General and their equivalents in the other two Services have been upgraded towards implementation of AV Singh Committee Report (Phase-II). The implementation of recommendations of the VI Central Pay Commission with substantial improvement in the pay structure of officers of Armed Forces has made the Services more attractive. 

The Armed Forces have also undertaken sustained image projection and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career. Awareness campaigns, participation in career fairs and exhibitions, advertisements in print and electronic media, motivational lectures in schools, colleges are also some of the other measures in this direction. The intake of officers, in Army, has shown a positive trend. 

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in separate written replies to Dr. T. Subbarami Reddy and Shrimati Vasanthi Stanley in Rajya Sabha . 

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Army personnel honoured with gallantry awards

 Three Kirti Chakras (KC) including one posthumous, 18 Shaurya Chakras (SC) were today awarded to Army personnel for acts of gallantry in India and abroad at a ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Kirti Chakra, the second highest peace time gallantry award, was given to Maj Rahul Gurung from Corps of Engineers and Captain Vikrant Ajit Deshmukh from Eight Battalion of Madras regiment.

Captain Deepak Sharma from 42 Rashtriya Rifles was awarded the KC posthumously for his role in eliminating three terrorists in an encounter last year at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

Among the 18 SC awardees, Majors Deepak Yadav and Nitesh Roy were given the award posthumously for saving lives of their colleagues during an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on February 2010.

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Residential Complex Ready for Soldiers at Greater Noida

The Indian Army has made yet another effort to create a residential complex for its soldiers at Greater Noida, for which the foundation stone was laid by the Chief of Army Staff, General VK Singh today.

With an aim to build houses / flats for serving and retired army personnel & their widows all over the country, Army Welfare Housing Organisation was set up in 1978 and the same was registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. The organisation functions on a self financing and “No Profit No Loss” basis. 

Apart from construction of dwelling units, the AWHO has also constructed some institutional buildings, to name a few, the Army Group Insurance New Delhi, the United Services Institute, New Delhi and the Army Public School Noida. The construction work at College of Nursing, Jallandhar is under progress

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