Under fire, Defence Ministry relents, to give disability pension per old formula

Under attack for introducing slab-based disability pension, Defence Ministry on Saturday said armed forces personnel would continue to get such pension based on percentage system till the Anomaly Committee came out with a report on the issue.

There was widespread criticism from opposition parties and the military establishment over a letter issued on September 30 which had introduced a slab-based system, as recommended by the 7th Pay Commission, for determining the disability pension for defence forces. Following this, the Ministry had referred the matter to the Anomaly Committee.

However, there was confusion as to what system would be used to determine disability pension. Till the Committee comes out with a report, existing percentage system will be used to determine disability pension, defence sources said. Earlier, the Defence Ministry had said the 7th CPC had recommended a slab-based system for determining disability pension, which was accepted by the government.

A percentage-based system was followed under the 6th CPC regime for calculating disability pension for defence forces personnel as well as civilians. What the military personnel are upset about is that civilians will continue to be paid pension according to the earlier "percentage system", which means that a civilian employee will get higher disability pension than his military counterpart.