AFT directs government to hike salary of major generals who were getting lower pay than their juniors
Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, March 14
Allowing a bunch of petitions, the Armed Forces Tribunal on Tuesday directed the Central government to step up the emoluments of officers of the rank of Major General and equivalent in the defence services who were drawing lower pay than their juniors.
A large number of officers have approached the Tribunal, seeking redressal for an anomaly that cropped up after the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, where senior Colonels and Brigadiers got higher pay than Major Generals on account of Military Service Pay being paid to officers up to the rank of Brigadier.
“The issue of pay and pension disparity between Major Generals and Brigadiers, and equivalent rank officers in the Navy and Air Force has been pending for resolution with central government since the 2019 but has not been addressed yet despite earlier rulings of the High Court and the Tribunal,” Col Indra Sen Singh (retd), counsel for some of the petitioners, said.
The government has already implemented judgements of the Tribunal passed in some similar matters earlier, but did not extend the same benefit across the board to all similarly placed Major Generals and equivalent rank officers who were admittedly drawing less pay andpension than their junior rank.
The Tribunal was informed today that issue is under active consideration of the central government. The government counsel sought further time to allow the government to take a final decision in this matter.
The Tribunal’s bench comprising Justice Rajendra Menon and Lt Gen CP Mohanty directed the government to step-up the pay of the petitioners and bring it at par with their juniors and thereafter grant all arrears of pay and pension and other consequential benefits with retrospective effect in terms of the Tribunal’s earlier judgments on the subject.
The ongoing situation, according to legal experts, is contrary to the settled law as laid down by the Supreme Court in a number of judgements, that once a judgement is passed and gains finality then the benefit of the same should be extended to all similarly situated individuals without forcing them to approach the courts.
