The defence ministry said the demand could not be accepted for administrative, financial, and legal reasons.
NEW DELHI: Rejecting a long-standing demand of ex-servicemen, the government said on Monday that it was not contemplating providing 'one rank, one pension' to similarly placed officers and jawans after their retirement.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for defence MM Pallam Raju said the demand was "not found acceptable" for administrative, financial, and legal reasons.
Moreover, Raju said, the pension benefits of personnel below officer rank, particularly of the ranks of sepoy, naik, and havildar, have been significantly increased by increasing weightage from five years to 10, eight, and six years, respectively.
They were also allowed pension before January 1996 to be computed with reference to the maximum of the pay scale introduced on January 1, 1996.
With the pay commissions increasing the pay of armed forces personnel every 10 years, the gap between the pensions received by those who retired before the implementation of the respective commissions has widened.
Similarly placed retired officers (with the same rank and number of years in service) are thus receiving different amounts as pension. This has been opposed by lakhs of ex-servicemen across the country.
In another reply, Raju said the government had already received representations from ex-servicemen regarding their grievances against various recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission.
"The grievances relate to various demands like one rank, one pension, removal of income criteria for dependent pension, and payment of two family pensions," Raju said.
He said the grievances were carefully examined and corrective action would be taken where required.
Raju said the system of paying pension to retired defence personnel through post offices, particularly in rural areas, had not yet been established. There were no new proposals to develop the skills of war widows, as the existing initiatives were found to be adequate, he said.
Raju also said the government had not discontinued the allotment of gas agencies and petrol pumps to war veterans, widows, and heirs of jawans who died in action.
He said the government had issued eligibility certificates for getting gas agencies and petrol pumps to 162 persons in 2006, 631 in 2007, and 155 till November this year.
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