Commission or Committee? Ploy to circumvent Rank Pay!

COMMISSION FOR ARMED FORCES

Dear Chander,
Some progress & good news from Govt. Consequent to the lambasting by the Supreme Court, at last the Govt has woken up. The entire credit goes to the untiring efforts by IESM, RDOA and Others like Lt Cdr Avtar & Sqn Ldr Ashok Kumar and others
who took lot of pains in pursuing our fight for our rights.
A news items on the subject, published in the Tribune e-paper, dated 09 Nov 2010 Soon, a panel to address grievances of armed forces
Maj Bhupal Singh, Veteran

One does sincerely hope this Commission is not a ploy to circumvent the rank pay imbroglio. The govt is quite capable of saying that the proposed commission would now deal with the rank pay issue; not very different from the 'committee' I had referred to in my sitrep a few days ago. Let us wait for 15 Nov 2010.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

Soon, a panel to address grievances of armed forces
The Tribune R SedhuramanLegal Correspondent
New Delhi, November 8, 2010
The government is in the process of setting up a commission for the speedy redressal of the grievances of armed forces personnel, the Centre informed the Supreme Court today.

“We are setting out the proposed terms of reference” of the commission, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told a Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra.

The SG, however, indicated that the commission would not cover personnel in all areas of the armed forces. “It may not be necessary for some areas as the government has taken positive decisions in these areas,” he said without giving details.

The SG sought a week’s time for providing the details of the proposed commission. The move could not be finalised before today’s hearing due to the intervening Divali holidays, he said. Allowing his plea, the Bench posted the next hearing for November 15.

On September 8 this year, the Bench had passed an order asking the government to consider setting up an independent commission headed by a retired SC Judge “for looking into all the grievances of the serving and former members of the armed forces. We feel this is necessary as the armed forces personnel have many grievances which they feel are not being properly addressed by the Union Government.”

Pointing out that the widow of a war veteran had approached the SC questioning the logic of paying her a meagre pension of Rs 70 against her claim of Rs 27,000, the Bench said this was the treatment meted out to highly decorated officers.

“It is shameful” that the government had allowed such cases to come to the Supreme Court. “Does it require a case? What are you people up to? It is very demoralising for the armed forces,” the Bench told the Solicitor General.

The SG assured the Bench that such grievances would also be addressed by the proposed commission. The court was hearing a petition filed by some serving and retired army officers, challenging the government’s refusal to accord them enhanced rank pay as recommended by the Fourth Pay Commission.

Soon, a panel to address grievances of armed forces