Fourth Pay Commission: Rank Pay Restored after 24 years

Dear Friends,
Jai Hind.
The President of Retired Defence Officers Association, Lt Col BK Sharma, met the Raksha Mantri on 31 Mar 10 and handed over the Supreme Court order of 08 Mar 10 regarding the Rank Pay case. A copy of the court order and the covering letter handed over by Lt Col BK Sharma to the Raksha Mantri are reproduced below.
In service of Indian Military Veterans
Chander Kamboj.

Letter to RM
Retired Defence Officers Association (Regd)
Regd. Office: 27-A, SFS, Pocket -1, Sector - 7, Dwarka, New Delhi – 110075
31 Mar 2010.
To,
Shri AK Antony
Hon’ble Raksha Mantryji Govt of India, MoD,
104, South Block,
DHQ PO, New Delhi – 110011
SUB: 4TH PAY COMMISSION RANK PAY ANOMLY CASE
1. Kindly refer our meeting held with you on the subject issue on 23 Dec 2006 in your office. It was very kind of you to give a patient hearing to the officers of the association.
2. As per the recommendations of the 4th Pay Commission ‘Rank Pay’ which was to be paid in addition to the emoluments for officer from the rank of Capt to Brig, was erroneously deducted at the time of pay fixation resulting in financial loss to the officers of the three Defence Services. In this context the judgment of the Kerela High Court in the case of Major AK Dhanapalan Vis Union of India is well known to you.
3. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India heard the case on 08 Mar 2010 and in it’s verdict, has ‘upheld’ the judgment passed by the single judge of Kerela High Court as confirmed by the Division Bench of the same court. The Apex Court has held that the judgment was correct and reasonable and as such the benefit of the judgment should be extended to all the affected officers of the Armed Forces. The Court also awarded 6% interest on the amount due to the officers. The Hon’ble Supreme Court disposed of the transfer petition and allowed the writ petitions of the petitioners. Copy of the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India is attached for your perusal.
4. In view of the above judgment, it is requested that necessary instructions/ notification may please be issued at the earliest so that the affected officers get their legitimate arrears.
Yours Sincerely,
Lt Col BK Sharma (Retd)
President
Lt Col Satwant Singh (Retd)
Secretary

Court Order and Ruling
WP (C) 96/09 etc
427028
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 96 OF 2009
Sunil Kumar Chand & Ors.... Petitioners
Versus
Union of India & Ors.... Respondents
WITH
TRANSFER PETITION (C) NO. 56 OF 2007
Union of India & Ors..... Petitioners
Versus
N. K. Nair & Ors.... Respondents
WITH
WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 34 OF 2009
K. K. Roghtagi & Ors..... Petitioners
Versus
Union of India & Ors..... Respondents
ORDER
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. Mohan Jain, learned Addl. Solicitor General appearing for the Union of India.
Application for intervention in T.P. (C) No. 56/2007 is allowed.
Since the issue involved in the writ petitions pending before the various High Courts is the same as in Writ Petition (C) Nos. 96/2009 and 34/2009· pending before this Court, this transfer petition is allowed. Writ petition Nos. 11056/2006, 11128/2006, 10810/2006, 13508/2006, 13497/2006 and 18176/2006 pending before the High Court of Kerala, Writ Petition No. 13904/2006 pending before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Writ Petition Nos. 1935/2006, 1934/2006, 1957/2006 and 47909/2006 pending before the High Court of Allahabad are directed to be transferred to this Court and taken on Board.
The prayer in these writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution is for grant of benefits awarded by a learned Single Judge of the Kerala High Court vide his judgment dated 5.10.1998 in O.P. 2448/1996 which has been affirmed by the Division Bench of the High Court in Writ Appeal No. 518/1999 by judgment dated 4.7.2003.
We have carefully perused the judgment dated 5.10.1998 of the learned Single Judge as well as judgment dated 4.7.2003 of the Division Bench of the High Court of Kerala and we respectfully agree with the reasoning given therein for grant of rank pay retrospectively from 1.1.1986. We also direct interest to be paid thereon at 6% p. a . Accordingly , these writ petitions as well as the transferred writ petitions are allowed.
No order as to the costs.
............................................. J.
(MARKANDEY KATJU)
.......................................... J.
(R.M. LODHA)
NEW DELHI; MARCH 08, 2010

Comment: When will MOD issue the Notification for implementation is the real question? Does it have more tricks up it sleeve to scuttle the issue and deny Pension to the Veterans?