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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Full text of the Rank Pay Judgement and some other important news

Three things :

1. The improved pensionary benefits for PBOR as per the CoS report expected to be notified today (10 March 2010).

2. It's a big day for our country today. The Civil Services Examination is all set to undergo a (welcome) sea change. Officers now to be recruited on the basis of a Civil Services Aptitude Test which shall replace the Prelims.

3. The full text of the rank pay judgement now available.

The full text judgement on the Rank Pay issue can be downloaded and accessed by clicking here.

Thanks

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

maj navdeep,

please clarify does it apply for all officers wef 01 jan 86 and revision of all basic and grade pay

Lt Col VJS Retd said...

Readers may do well to remember that the Govt. had paid the arrears to Maj AK Dhanapalan and thereafter took the stand that it was not applicable to other officers similarly placed.
This resulted in several affected officers filing seperate Writ petitions in different High Courts for getting the same relief as given to Maj Dhanapalan. As you know, all these writ petitions as well as the writ petition for the grant of same relief filed before the Supreme court were heard by the supreme court and judgement delivered on 8 March 2010.
The operative part of the judgement says " The prayer in these writ petitions under Art 32 of the Constitution is for the grant of benifits awarded....by Kerala High Court. we respectfully agree ... for grant of rank pay retrospectively from 1.1.1986. Accordingly these writ petitions as well as the transferred writ petitions are allowed."
The SC order is very clear as far as the petitioners in these writ petitions are concerned. The govt has no choice but to extend the relief given to Maj Dhanapalan, But will the govt apply the same principle in respect of other officers who were not party to any of these writ petitions?
That is the

Unknown said...

Does this affect me?I was commisssioned in 1984.

Thanks.

Col DS Hoonjan (Retd) said...

It is a long awaited decision which is beneficial to all officers in service on and after 1986. This Order of the SC will have ramifications on the rank pay awarded by Vth CPC and trickes down to VI CPC.
Not only rank pay but it modifies the terminal retirement benefits after Vth & VI CPC.
Request for professional comments from Major Navdeep Singh.

Anonymous said...

Lt Col VJS above,

It seems we have already started reading in between the lines to find out how it should not be extended to all officers ?

Well, faujis will always be faujis...

Lt Col A N Ramachandran(Retd) said...

My dear Maj Navdeep,
Thank you very much for this most heartening news.I deeply appreciate the pains you would have taken to post the copy of the judgment in such quick time.Needless to add that you will continue to strive in the service of the men and women in the Armed Forces, serving as well as the retired. Thank you once again.

Anonymous said...

"No Order No Cost"This is the underline factor.
I presume this would apply only to people who have applied and not to all.
Request clarification.

Anurag said...

@ Lt Col VJS

"This resulted in several affected officers filing seperate Writ petitions in different High Courts for getting the same relief as given to Maj Dhanapalan."

By the same logic, if in case, the present relief is allowed only to the officers who filed writ petitions after Maj Dhanapalan, There would again be officers who would file petitions to be awarded the same relief as granted to these officers. And surely the courts would again rule in their favour.

The point being that the present judgement should be applicable to all or else the courts would be doing the same thing over and over again. And this is pretty unlikely .

So, I guess the present decision would be applicable to all.

Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh said...

@Anony at 11.51

'No order as to costs' simply means that while the petition is being allowed, costs are not being imposed on either of the parties. It has nothing to do with the merits of the case.

Moreover, in one of the Petitions, relief was sought for all similarly placed officers (irrespective of whether they had filed a case or not), and the same has also been allowed alongwith the bunch meaning thereby that the prayer of extending the benefit to others also stands allowed and accepted.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to the PBORs for getting the improved pensionary benefits- though the senso-stricto OROP is not yet acceded by the Govt. Fond hope is the "gap" is reduced and - a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.Otherwise, the matters cd have been delayed on one pretext or the other.

Justin N Christian said...

MUCH AWAITED COS REPORT IMPLEMENTATION IS FINALLY THRU FOR PBOR. BUT STILL THE JOB IS HALFDONE.THE ARREARS OF CIR 350 FROM 01/01/1996 IS STILL AWAITED,THE COS REPORT IMPLEMENTAION FROM 07/2009 IS IRATIONAL AND ABOVE ALL THE 70% PENSIONARY WEIGHTAGE TO PBOR IS STILL PENDING. I FEEL THE PM IS AWARE OF ALL THESE THINGS AND WILL RESPECT THE EXPECTATION OF PBOR AT THE EARLIEST.

A B Mehta said...

I retired in 1982. The task of recalculating the pension all through would be a daunting task. Would this be PCDA responsibility (who can have/make a general software programme to cover all cases) or for PDAs (who will have NO clue and the will to do) or by the individual to be approved by some authority? I am sure Maj Navdeep would come out with a clarification in due course. Thanks for the info giving so much joy to many.

Gp Capt A B Mehta

Harry said...

@ All

Finally... some heartening news indeed! Now the so called High Powered Committee will be able to finally dispense some justice.

Following needs to be done now:-
-Refix pay scales of 5th Pay Commmission after taking into consideration rank pay. After revised pay scales are worked out for each rank then refix new Grade Pay (Post 6th PC) as per reworked 5th PC scales.. New GP may become something like this:-
Capt - 6600
Maj - 7600
Lt Col - 8800 (new GP > 8700)
Col - 9500 (new GP > 8900)
Brig - 10000
Maj Gen - HAG
Lt Gen - HAG +
Army Cdr - 80000 Apex Grade
Chief - 90000 (fixed)

Note:- Earlier DIG was Senior to Lt Col and Junior to Col (even WoP corroborates the same)so his GP of 8900 lies between Lt Col and Col.

Another Landmark Judgement which is being eagerly awaited is inclusion of training period in Service (Case pending with Bombay HC). Inshallaha, when this comes through then it will be double victory for Service brethern. Lets keep our fingers crosed for this one.

OROP is third issue which the Govt will have to concede eventually.

Looks like tide is eventually turning for us. AMEN !

Cheers to all !

AS said...

Maj Navdeep,
Any news on revision of rates of disability pension for pre2006 veterns to %age basis?Has the issue been rejected?

Anonymous said...

Hope for govt orders soon for applying it to all officers who were on strength on 1-1-86 without any applications etc from individual officers. Data of all officers is available with CDA(O).
Also hope to hear from Navdeep soon about grant of disability pension to pre 1-1-06 retirees on percentage basis.
All the best Navdeep

Anonymous said...

STAFF WRITER 18:48 HRS IST
Orders issued for pensionary benefits to ex-servicemen

New Delhi, Mar 10 (PTI) In a move that will bring relief to over 12 lakh ex-servicemen, the Defence Ministry has issued orders to implement pending pensionary benefits to them involving an annual expenditure of about Rs 2,200 crore.

The decision followed recommendations by a high-level committee and recent assurance in this regard in the Lok Sabha by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

With these orders, the ministry has implemented all the seven recommendations of committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar on pensions, which would now be close to the 'One Rank-One Pension' demand of ex-servicemen, senior ministry officials said today.

"The Defence Ministry issued the orders on March 8 this year to implement the remaining two of the seven suggestions of the Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar-headed committee on 'One Rank-One Pension' demand," they said

Source:
http://ptinews.com/news/557761_Orders-issued-for-pensionary-benefits-to-ex-servicemen

Anonymous said...

Maj navdeep

Can i request u to feature a post saying that this judgement is applicable to all officers as there are a large number of officers still who would not believe it. your post @8.29 refers.

Major Ajinkya said...

How much i will get? can some body ple help me out? Navdeep sir will u ple?
i am of june 2003 seniority

Anonymous said...

Maj navdeep,

I am sure there will be cases where similar judgements have been made use of to make it applicable for all civilian officers as every all such rules are interpreted in their favour by civilian officers as everyone of them is affected?

Some people have stil got doublt about its applicability? I too fail to understand if pay as on 01 jan 86 gets revised then how could it not be applicable for offrs who have joined/promoted later than 01 jan 86 and therefor for revision of basic/grade pay for 5 cpc and 6 cpc as wel. The tables for basic for 5 and 6 cpc have been worked out without adding rank pay?

kmpods said...

Dear Maj Navdeep
it was heartening news indeed. Some of the officers have doubts which you have answered , esp regarding the applicability of judgement to all. As to the arrears eligibilty the entire exercise has to be carried out for calculation. this has implication on the DA also. More important it is the fact that injustice will not be tolerated. Kudos to the judicial system and right thinking individuals for the same. the real heroes are these who fight for the Rights day in and day out. So it leads us to the conclusion that we are not the only ones protecting the society, but are a part of the complex system in our country. This is esp for the "Others Bashers". I think we must stop doing that and think positively about the contribution made by all sections of the society. Please accept our congratulations on behalf of the legal fraternity. May you continue the good work, in both your chosen roles. God Bless
regards
Krishna

Lt Col G K Mohan Rao said...

The clarification given by Maj Navdeep Singh is solacing that the SC ruling is applicable to all affected officers as in one of the petition it is prayed that the benefit be applicable to all such officers.

Ramani said...

Dear all,
The operative part says"All officers similarly placed".
Going by this , it means all officers in service on the affected date are to benefit.
It only goes to show that just may be delayed , but it gets done.and so far the Govt has by and large
acceptrd the Rulings.
So hopefully we shall get something although the hawks in the IT Dept will Gobble up their share????
Thanks again to Navdeep for enlightening all of us.

Rajababu said...

There is a saying "Never Give Up" and thats amply demonstrated by Maj Dhanapalan. Because of one mans untiring efforts everybody is getting benefited(it also disturbing to note that everybody is keen only on knowing how much monetary they will get!!!). hats off Dhanapalan sir!! Now it needs to be seen how soon and efficeintly the implementation is carried out by the our HQs/MOD/PCDAs.

Anil bali said...

Dear Major Navdeep,
you are really doing a wonderful welfare job for all of us by providing us Realtime INFO about ARMY JUDGEMENTS. As I can Decipher, this will mean that we will have 4th pay commission reworkedup+ DA thereof, + Vth pay commission worked up + DA therof + VIth pay commission worked up+ DA thereof +++ 6% interest there of. To me it looks arrears will be more than VI pay arrears, may be around 8 lacs approx.
May I request Maj Navdeep to throw some light to boost up our expectations.

Anonymous said...

maj navdeep,

Thanx for clarifying in the chatroll that the rank pay judgement is applicable only for officers holding rank of capt to brig as on 01 jan 86.

But how do we explain wrong fixation of basic as well as grade pay in 6 cpc due to the wrong interpretation that rank pay is not part of basic pay? what is required to be done to set this anamoly right now that this judgement is out? This was a non issue from the beginning and this was a deliberate misinterpretation on the part of bureaucracy? Do more people have to go to court for post 6cpc relief on basic and grade pay?

sl said...

As a matter of interest, this "Judgement" is not available through the "Judgements" tab of the web site of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. It is available as an "Order". What is the difference?
Also, the "Order" states that Rank Pay be paid retrospectively. But rank pay was indeed paid. Its the lower fixation by IV CPC of the basic salary that is required to be corrected. Some of the legal experts amongst the readership of this Blog could consider clarifying for the benefit of others.

Anonymous said...

Tanx 4 g8t job done by maj navdeep singh on dis blog. Awareness and Correct Awareness hav tremendous differences & IMPACT on life of human beings.Ur blog creates CORRECT AWARENESS......WELL DONE!!!

Are u aware that a Colonel retired and re-employed offr given a major's appointment by MS Branch has been ordered to work under a Captain (women entry holding a contractual job for 5 years vis-a-vis 2 years contract job signed by a re-employed officer)on the plea that re-employed officer as a major is not on the posted strenghted of the Hq!!

By the same absurd anology,if this NON-Regular Captain officer is not available for duty and there is no other officer posted,will a re-employed officer holding Major's appointment made to work under a Honrary Captain or a JCO ,who is posted in this section??

Well,Major Navdeep, when will such invidious discrimination against re-employed officers holding MAJOR'S Appointment end ??(totally illegal because the Undertaking signed by Re-employed Officers uses the operative words "REGULAR OFFICERS" against whom no claim can be staked to officiate any appointment).

It must be a peculiar case of its kind worth pursuing by you in the interest of faujis???