Most would be aware of the
fact that the Ministry of Defence and the Army Headquarters had withdrawn the
appeal filed by them in the Supreme Court against grant of substantive ranks to
Short Service Commissioned Officers (both men and women) commissioned under the
old terms (5+5+4 years) as implemented after acceptance of the AV Singh
Committee Report. The benefits had been refused due to a self-created negative
stipulation though no such prohibition had been imposed by the Cabinet which
had extended the benefits to all Permanent and Short Service Officers without distinction.
When the Armed Forces Tribunal had directed the Government to extend the
benefits to affected officers, the decision of the AFT was challenged in the
Supreme Court.
The appeal was however
withdrawn earlier this year on the intervention of the current Raksha Mantri.
The details of the decision can be accessed through this news-report that
appeared in The Week.
Now, the Government has
issued a policy dated 10 May 2018 extending the said benefit to all similarly
placed officers, including those who had not approached Courts. Though
there are additional conditions imposed in the policy which were never imposed
by the Courts, the step is in the right direction since it results in avoidance
of unnecessary litigation on the subject.
