Regular readers would be aware
of the case of the retirement age of Group Captains (Time Scale) of the Indian
Air Force wherein the Supreme Court had declared that the difference in the age of superannuation between Time Scale and Selection Grade Group Captains was discriminatory.
On similar analogy, the Armed
Forces Tribunal had also passed orders related to Captains of the Indian Navy
wherein the discrimination between the age of superannuation of Time Scale and
Selection Grade rank of Captain (IN) was held to be bad in law.
As a corollary to the above, the
Ministry of Defence has now issued universal orders that all Time Scale
Captains would now retire at the age of 56 years. The age of superannuation for
the said rank in the Education Branch would be 57 years.
This order is applicable to all
affected officers, and not just litigants.
Must
place on record that the current Defence Minister is proactively pursuing
harmonization of policies which have caused heartburn amongst the rank and file
and the same vision is also the benchmark being pursued by the Raksha Mantri’s short term Committee of Experts which is looking into many similar issues, and beyond.
Update: This clarification is for those who are enquiring about the removal of a ‘similar’ anomaly in the Army. This is to place on record that the Army is not afflicted with this anomaly since Time Scale and Selection Grade Colonels of the Army retire at the same age. In the Air Force and the Navy however, there was a difference in the age of retirement between Time Scale and Selection Grade ranks which was ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court. Various Branches/Arms/Services of all three services inherently mandate different ages of superannuation even for similar ranks and the Supreme Court decision has no link whatsoever regarding equalizing the same.
Update: This clarification is for those who are enquiring about the removal of a ‘similar’ anomaly in the Army. This is to place on record that the Army is not afflicted with this anomaly since Time Scale and Selection Grade Colonels of the Army retire at the same age. In the Air Force and the Navy however, there was a difference in the age of retirement between Time Scale and Selection Grade ranks which was ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court. Various Branches/Arms/Services of all three services inherently mandate different ages of superannuation even for similar ranks and the Supreme Court decision has no link whatsoever regarding equalizing the same.
21 comments:
Will it by any chance come to Colonels including Time scale in Army also ???
Sir,
What about Colonels of the Indian Army,who are of equivalent rank of Captains of the Indian Navy and Group Captains of the IAF, who retire at the age of 54 years in the Indian Army ?? Is it not unfair?
Regards,
Col AS Rajan
When same order will be issued for Army ??? Is their any such agenda in pipeline for Army?
Dear MMAJ.Navdeep,
GOOD SHOW. THINGS ARE LOOKING UP.
bUT FOR PRE-2006 RETIRES, ALMOST ALL THE RANKS CARRY RESTRICTION OF SERVING BEYOND CERTAIN AGE, In IAF, wg.cdrs, who could not get promotion to gp.capt. rank, are made to retire compulsorily by 49 ge and this is different for different branches.
NOW, HOW THESE WILL BE COMPENSATED?
OROP IS THE NEAREST ANSWER.
Let the committee go into these also.
wg.cdr.v.sundaresan(retd)
Does that mean that IN officers retired in the last one/ two years will also be given an option to join back, like what was done by the IAF.
This clarification is for those who are enquiring about the removal of a ‘similar’ anomaly in the Army. This is to place on record that the Army is not afflicted with this anomaly since Time Scale and Selection Grade Colonels of the Army retire at the same age. In the Air Force and the Navy however, there was a difference in the age of retirement between Time Scale and Selection Grade ranks which was ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court. Various Branches/Arms/Services of all three services inherently mandate different ages of superannuation even for similar ranks and the Supreme Court decision has no link whatsoever regarding equalizing the same.
This is a very welcome step. But the issue gets a little complicated for those Group Captains of Air Force and Captains of Indian Navy who had to proceed on super-annuation at the previous age limit and also had crossed the higher age (57 and 56) by the time these orders were passed, rendering it impossible for them to be re-absorbed back into service. They have lost out in terms of pension as well as on the salary/allowances that would have accrued if they had continued in service. How can these Officers be compensated?
For the army, the only time such an issue arose was when Officers about to retire as Lt Col with 26 years of service or more got the time bound promotion to rank of Col when AVS-I was implemented in Dec 2004/Mar 2005. They were able to serve for the extra time available to Colonels for super annuation as compared to Lt Colonels.
Incidentally, as the blog owner has himself once voiced the sentiment that use of TS with a rank was not exactly in good taste, it might be considered whether the use of such terms can be dispensed with, especially as even Army HQs has officially discontinued the usage.
Navdeep;
The Wording of the Letter is 'Prospective'... "in Service.. Due to Retire..."; would this not be 'Bad in Law', as the circumstances which are being set right / harmonised have existed, ever since the pliant was filed, in 2011.. or at least from the date of the Apex Court's Judgement on 24 Sep 14.
Would much appreciate your clarification/ view point...
Maj Navdeep,
The committee may consider to take up the following -
1. Retirement for all ranks at 60. To keep the forces young , transfer at 35 to civil departments.
2. NFU for all ranks
3. Provisions for over time rate of pay and night duty allowances for ORs ..
4. Provision for enhanced rate of family pension for all cases of disability pensioners without any conditions for all pre & post 2006 pensioners.
5. Proportional increase in pension for qualifying service beyond 33 years.
6. Pre 2004 Lt Colonels who retired with 26+ years service ; to be given pension at par with Colonels.
7. Broadbanding of percentages of disability be extended to superannuated / retired
personnel .
8. Disability pension to be linked to service pension and be automatically revised along with service pension .
9. Orders issued by P & PW department should be automatically applicable to service pensioners .MOD need not issue orders separately.
The rank of Commodore in the Navy is not on selection but merely an appointment. It is not a substantive rank and all Capt (IN) are promoted to Cmde in 4-5 years. Ideally select list Cols should not be posted under Cmde in inter service establishments.
That said, there is a serious query. Will all Capt (26 yrs) be eligible for appt as Cmde ?
If not, why not ? I deliberately omit the usage of suffix TS and use @26 since the Courts have ruled that there is no diff betn Gp Capt (Sel and @ 26).
A Capt @26 yrs will be around 48. He shud be upgraded to Cmde in 4-5 yrs too.
Does it mean that the Naval Capt and Air Force Gp Capt retires two years later than an Army Col. Difference in superannuation age within a Service for different branches is understood but difference for equivalent ranks in the three Services is difficult to understand. Request confirm. Regards, Brig Verma
Dear Major Navdeep,
Your last paragraph of the above write up, that is, ' Must place on record .............' boosts our morale. May God Almighty bless you,the team including the DM with good health and wisdom.
Navdeep sorry to say so but there is a feeling that you have been neutralized. Why is ur blog repeatedly sounding like govt mouthpiece. Has justice been given to all pension cases decided by SC and AFT? Why is govt appealing against many cases already decided in AFT. You have nothing to say yet about discriminatory promotion issue. Why OROP issue is not in media? I think you need to introspect because environment has lost a trusted warrior I dont know why. In the present case good old Navdeep would have mentioned that even army officers should get same retirement age as Navy and Air Force equivalents. Come back dear is all I can say...
Do Col TS retire at 56 ?
I dont think so !
@A Sunder Rajan
Sir,
The IAF officers of the various branches retire at different ages:-
Flying branch Gp Capt (both select and TS) now : 54
Admin, Lgs, Accts, AE(l) and AE(M), Edn (both select and TS ) now : 57
earlier the TS officers would retire at 52 (Flying br) and 54 (other brs)
All Army Cols (both TS and select) have always retired at 54, so there was no disparity in retirement ages with a particular br for select and TS grade Cols.
Why COl/Gp Capt/Capt (IN) should retire at different ages (and different brs in IAF) is what ought also to be resolved
By the way even Air Cmde of IAF retire at 56 (ie earlier than other br Gp Capts)
consider
What about inter services parity in the retirement ages. When a General, Admiral and ACM all retire at 62 why not the lower ranks when their entries are the same viz. NDA/CDS. Rather the disparity starts only from the rank of Colonels. All the ranks above this retire at the same age.
Dear Navdeep;
I had mailed a request earlier.. which I am uncertain, if it has been viewed... as it does not show up on this blog page ..
My query was, that The MoD letter is Prospective, in its application for Superannuation at 56 Years for Captains(I.N).. What of Captains who have retired in the previous months, and after the Apex Court Ruling ?
Does that mean that IN officers retired in the last one/ two years will be asked to join back, like what was done by the IAF.
Does it also imply that the judgement would be applicable to the past retirees also and in case of those few officers who opted & completed a reemployment period of say 1/2/3 years, the said period would in fact count towards the "actual service" rendered and thus entitle them for higher benefits of P&A as well as consequential pensionery benefits. For example a Captain (TS) who retired at the age of 54 years on 31 Oct 2005 and did a reemployment of two years till 27 Oct 2007 (till attaining the age of 56 years) would be entitled of all benefits of the Pay Commission effective 01 Jan 2006.
Sir,
Is there something coming up to increase the retirement age for Col of Services or all arms
Does the retiring age of 56 apply to all branches of IAF now? For instance, Gp Capt of Flying Branch retires at the age of 54. Would flying branch Gp capt also retire at the age of 56 now? If not, then what is the basis of this judgement?
Post a Comment