#DNAExclusive: Forces raise demand for pay parity

A tussle over pay disparity between the Armed Forces and civilians working under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has triggered serious "command and control problems", affecting the working in some critical areas, including field and counter-insurgency operations, the top military brass has alerted the government.

Newly-appointed Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's predecessors Arun Jaitley and Manohar Parrikar had been apprised of the problem and urged to rectify the difference in pay and entitlements to officers of the Armed Forces and bring them at par with their civilian colleagues working under MoD.

Sources told DNA that Sitharaman has been intimated about the issue, though no official communication has been sent to her. "She has been told about the problem, and she has asked for details," said a defence source.

Granting Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU) to the Armed Forces like the civilian Grade 'A' officials working under MoD will end the pay gap. Services under MoD that get NFU, creating pay disparity, include IPS working in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), Indian Naval Armament Service, Indian Ordnance Factory Service, Indian Defence Services of Engineers, Border Roads Organisation, Defence Research and Development Service, Defence Quality Assurance Service and Defence Aeronautical Quality Assurance Service.

Among the representations made, one was by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba in April 2017 in his capacity as the Chairman of Chief of Staff Committee — the senior most service chief.

Admiral Lanba wrote to then Defence Minister Jaitley in April for NFU to the Armed Forces, pointing out that promotions in the Armed Forces are slow compared to other services, government sources said.

"Only 2 per cent of the officers reach the Brigadier level after 26 years of service, while 1 per cent become Major General after 32 years of service and 0.2 per cent reach the level of Lt General," the MoD has been told, explaining slow promotions as the need for implementing NFU in the Armed Forces.

Officials of Grade 'A' services are entitled to NFU. This means they get financially upgraded to the same pay scale two years after their contemporary IAS batch gets empanelled at the Centre.

From 2008, IPS officers were also brought under the ambit of NFU. This has disturbed the equilibrium further and even created command problems in border areas or counter-terror operations where IPS officers are serving alongside as part of CAPFs such as Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). There are situations when the Commanding Officer (Colonel) or Brigade Commander (Brigadier) is drawing less salary compared to an IPS officer serving alongside who otherwise could be junior or of the same level to them. Another recent presentation was made to Jaitley on why the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) order in favour of NFU should be implemented without delay.

Both communications were sent after the government did not implement the judgement of AFT of December 2016 in favour of NFU to all similarly placed officers of the defence forces. Sources said the government challenged the AFT judgement in the Supreme Court in April but due to certain errors in the petition it has not been listed for hearing yet. "The petition has been lying in the Supreme Court with defects since April 21. These have not been rectified yet," said Rajiv Manglik, the counsel for Colonel Mukul Dev who moved AFT seeking NFU in the Armed Forces.

The representations made to MoD stated that granting NFU by implementing the AFT order will resolve the functional disparities in a multi-cadre environment.