Thursday, Sep 22, 2016 | 11:46 AM IST
Allcentral government employees have the right to represent and air grievances against the awards of the 7th Central Pay Commission (7th
CPC) to an “Anomalies Committee” set up for this purpose — all except
the military, which ironically constitutes the bulk of central
government employees and pensioners.
Now servicemen, in uniform and retired, will have their say too. On Wednesday, the Punjab & Haryana High Court issued notice to the Central government, directed the Anomalies Committee to take into account views of defence personnel.
Ruling on a petition by a serving officer, Colonel Preetpal Singh
Grewal, the High Court notice could go some way in easing the vitiated
civil-military relationship, and the trust deficit between civil servants and the military.
The 7th CPC recommendations,
which were handed over to the government in last November, aroused
bitter resentment within the military. On March 11, the three service
chiefs made a presentation to the “Empowered Committee of Secretaries”, a
13-member panel headed by the cabinet secretary, which was looking into
the recommendations. After that brought no changes, the chiefs held the
implementation of the 7th CPC in abeyance, forcing the defence minister to order them last month to implement the award.
In his petition, Grewal pointed out that the Anomalies Committee granting hearings to civil employees, their associations and the civil establishment but not to defence personnel or even the military establishment.
He pointed out that the defence services were not even informed about
the institution of the Committee and only discovered through press
reports that several meetings had been held with civil government
employees.
The petition admits that military employees
cannot be allowed to form associations. However, there was a need for
sensitivity within the system toward defence personnel, and the
opportunity to present their views and demands.
Denying this would violate the principles of natural justice, the
petition pleaded. It also pointed out that the Supreme Court has already
held that defence personnel should not be treated in a ‘shabby manner’
or denuded of rights that are available to other citizens.
Besides pleading for the opportunity for serving and retired military personnel
to be heard, the petition asked for an alternative participative
mechanism that would compensate for the statutory bar on forming
associations.
The petition pointed out that the defence ministry’s Standing Committee
on Welfare of Ex-Servicemen, which Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
had himself ordered to hold meetings every three months, has not yet
held a single meeting. The petition argued that this amounted to lower
officials undermining political authority.
The petition suggested that differences be resolved in a conciliatory
manner, instead of implementing ham-handed measures that created a gap
between various services. It stated that the standoffishness of high
government authority created a trust deficit that could be exploited by
anti-national elements, which might spread discontentment through the social media.
The 7th CPC has raised baseline military salaries
by about 15 per cent, taking the pay of a lieutenant (the entry grade
for officers) to Rs 56,100 per month; and that of a sepoy (the entry
grade for ratings) to Rs 21,700 per month. This was significantly lower
than the 40 per cent hikes handed out by the Fifth and Sixth Pay
Commissions. But the greatest resentment has taken place through the
relative dilution of status, with the Indian Administrative Service,
Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service
having been granted allowances that the military believes places them on a higher level.
