Pay Structure for the Armed Forces

Neither in the Constitution of India, nor in any other statute have I seen any linkage between ‘The table of precedence’ and the Structure of salaries. And, yet the pay commissions which are dominated by the civil servants are fixated by these relativities. However, if such a law, guideline or ruling does exist, then it has already been violated, because the pay (including the rank pay) of the Brigadiers has been higher than that of the Joint Secretaries ever since 1986. It may be noted that Rank Pay was defined as Basic Pay, for all purposes.

Functional equations in the Ministry of Defense are created for administrative convenience. The civil servants seem to have made a fetish of them. They go well out of their way to ensure that an officer of an appropriate rank attends a meeting, even if he is not the best informed person on the given subject. Compensation packages, the world over are devised on the basis of three guiding principles: attraction, retention and motivation. Our remuneration to the officer class is inadequate on all the three counts.

A clear distinction must be made between ‘basic pay’ and ‘allowances’. We have had a lot of trouble with “Rank pays”. Now I see similar problem brewing over the Military Service Pay (MSP) If it is basic pay, it must count for all purposes. If not, then it must be treated like all other risk or qualification related elements such as Flying Allowance, the NPA and the Technical Allowances.

Within the “Group A”, the length of service has to be rewarded. There is no way by which a Col or Brig with 25 or 30 years under his belt can be given lower pay than a JS with 14 years service. It is ethically incorrect, and morally wrong.
In sum, the ‘table of precedence’ ‘the functional equations’ and the ‘pay scales’ are mutually exclusive and must be treated as such.

Any Answer?
At a social event, a Colonel, who was commanding the unit asked me, “Sir, if I have not done my job properly, hit me on my head. Why are you punishing my children, by reducing my salary? And, Sir has the administration of the country so much that the nation has chosen to give a bonanza to the civil servants?”

Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)