Defence services, India: legal and service issues
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Armed forces, India: legal and service issues
Contents |
Death-cum-retirement gratuity (DCRG)
Tribunal slams Army bias on gratuity
The Times of India 2010
When a bullet from across the border does not distinguish between a commissioned and non-commissioned officer in the Army, how can the government do so when it comes to grant of death-cum-retirement gratuity (DCRG), wondered the newly-constituted Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) headed by a retired SC judge. The tribunal said this discrimination in payment of DCRG was violative of Article 14 (right to equality) guaranteed under the Constitution
'Duty’: Definition of
Does a toilet break count as ‘duty’?
‘Soldiers on loo break still on nation’s duty’
Ajay Sura TNN
The Times of India 2013/07/26
Chandigarh: A soldier taking a loo break during work hours should be deemed on duty for the nation, the Armed Forces Tribunal in Chandigarh said on Thursday while ordering Rs 10 lakh damages for a jawan’s widow.
The widow, Daxina Devi, was denied compensation as her husband, sepoy Lakshman Kumar, was on his way to toilet when he died after suffering head injuries after a fall along the India-China border in Ladakh on August 15, 2009. Justice Vinod Kumar Ahuja-led AFT bench ordered the compensation meant for soldiers killed on duty in Kumar’s case with an additional 10% interest. Devi had challenged the decision to deny her compensation on hyper technical grounds and called it perverse.
CoI had declared death as casualty
Chandigarh: The Armed Forces Tribunal in Chandigarh on Thursday ordered Rs 10 lakh damages for a jawan’s widow after her husband, sepoy Lakshman Kumar, died after a fall on his way to toilet. The Tribunal ordered that a soldier taking a loo break during work hours should be deemed on duty for the nation.
The widow, Daxina Devi, had challenged the Allahabad-based principal controller of defence accounts (PCDA) decision to deny her compensation on hyper technical grounds and called it perverse.
A court of inquiry (CoI) had declared the soldier’s death as a casualty in an operational area. But PCDA denied Devi compensation given to soldiers who die on bona fide military duty, saying he was not on duty when he suffered injuries.
“It seems strange that the office of the PCDA is suggesting that a person should not even go out to attend the nature’s call and if he does, he shall not be considered on duty during those particular moments,’’ Devi said in her petition before the ATF in November 2012. “Such an approach of authorities is also against the very existence of human biology.’’
Armed Forces Tribunals
Armed Forces Tribunals have powers similar to high courts and handle military related matters.
Promotions
A fundamental right
Promotion a fundamental right, SC says
TNN | Jan 12, 2014
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that an eligible candidate has a fundamental right to be considered for promotion against the available vacancy and promoted if adjudged suitable.
The ruling from a bench of Justices AK Patnailk and JS Khehar came as they set aside as "invalid" the order of the Cabinet's appointment committee not accepting the recommendation of a selection board to promote Maj Gen HM Singh as Lt Gen.
"..., if the appellant was the senior most serving Major General eligible for consideration (which he undoubtedly was), he most definitely had the fundamental right of being considered against the above vacancy, and also the fundamental right of being promoted if he was adjudged suitable," said the bench in a judgment delivered on Thursday.
"Failing which, he would be deprived of his fundamental right of equality before law, and equal protection of laws, extended by Article 14," said Justice Khehar.
Death-cum-retirement gratuity
‘Different benefits for similar injuries is discrimination’
Tribunal Puts Army In Dock...
Dhananjay Mahapatra
New Delhi: When a bullet coming from the other side of the border does not distinguish between a commissioned and noncommissioned officer in the Army, how can the government do so when it comes to grant of death-cum-retirement gratuity (DCRG), wondered the newlyconstituted Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.
In a major order that would assuage the long-standing grievance of the officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, AFT principal bench comprising chairperson Justice A K Mathur and member Lt Gen M L Naidu said this discrimination in payment of DCRG was violative of Article 14 (right to equality) guaranteed under the Constitution.
A petition filed by the Disabled War Veterans (India) through counsel Aishwarya Bhati had made two major grievances — one relating to the difference in payment of DCRG and the other regarding computation of pension for a disabled soldier.
Bhati had alleged that the government takes into account the minimum payscale in the rank of the disabled soldier to compute the war injury pension to him and had requested AFT to direct the Centre to consider taking into account the highest pay in the rank for the purpose.
AFT agreed on both counts with the counsel. On DCRG, it said once the short service commission officers and the permanent service commission officers fight on the border shoulder-to-shoulder, they formed the same class and no further distinction can be made.
“Once they form the same class and they are fighting shoulder-to-shoulder against the enemy and if unfortunately both of them receive an injury and they are disabled then no distinction can be made in the payment of DCRG,” the AFT said. “We cannot give them benefit, but we can only request the government that this payment of DCRG on the basis of distinction between short service commission and regular service commission is highly discriminatory. We hope and trust that the government will remove this discrimination which is apparent on the face of it,” it said.
Coming to computation of war injury pension, the AFT said the cause of injury which disabled a soldier and cut short his career was beyond the control of the personnel and such persons should be treated fairly by being given war injury pension on the basis of the highest pay in the rank.
“We feel strongly that it is a matter which requires serious consideration of the government that a person whose career has been sacrificed for safeguarding the Indian border and he is to be treated in such a poor way that he is being paid war disabled pension on the basis of minimum of the scale of that rank,” the AFT bench said.
Housing: Married Accommodation Project
Armed forces, India: welfare issues
Jawans sans home and hearth
Married Accommodation Project For Soldiers Still A Pipe Dream
Rajat Pandit
New Delhi: Leave alone supersonic fighter jets or complex ballistic missile defence systems, the defence establishment seems incapable of even providing something as basic as decent family accommodation to its armed forces.
Even as the defence ministry flounders, deadline after deadline of the much-touted Married Accommodation Project (MAP), touted as a major welfare measure for soldiers, airmen and sailors, is being missed with huge cost escalation.
Consequently, while officers have it relatively easy, a majority of jawans are forced to stay away from their families for prolonged periods, which is one of the factors cited for the high levels of stress prevalent in the forces. Incidentally, the 13 lakh-strong armed forces record over 120 suicide and ‘fragging’ cases every year.
MAP was conceived a decade ago to ameliorate some of the hardship faced by jawans since there was limited housing available for married personnel. Though the aim was to construct just 1,98,881 new dwelling units, in four phases at an estimated cost of Rs 17,357 crore, it was considered a good beginning.
But it has flattered to deceive. In May 2002, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved construction of 61,658 dwelling units under phase-I, which were to be ready by 2005-2006.
Eight years later, even after the number of units to be constructed was reduced to 58,391 in 86 military stations at a cost of Rs 5,329 crore, phase-I is yet to be completed. ‘‘Only about 42,000 units are ready till now,’’ said an official. ‘‘The less said about phase-II the better. Under it, 66,727 units have to be constructed in a compressed timeframe by March 2012. It will simply not be possible,’’ he said.
MoD, on its part, says phase-II will not be branched off to PSUs, like it was in phase-I. Defence minister A K Antony has ‘directed’ senior officials to ensure ‘strict adherence’ to the March 2012 deadline.
While 75% of the work in phase-II will be executed directly by the directorate general of MAP, the other 25% will be handled by MES (military engineering service), to avoid slippages and cost escalation.
But given the track record of both MAP and MES till now, the timely execution of phase-II, at a cost of Rs 9,938 crore, is likely to remain a pipedream. Moreover, no definite timeframes for phase-III and IV, under which over 70,000 units are to be constructed, have been chalked out in detail. MoD officials, however, said the government had ‘agreed in principle’ to combine the last two phases to complete the entire MAP ‘at the earliest’.
