The Truth and Decit: IV CPC Rank Pay Case:Part I

The truth needs to be known to all as to how the AF officers were cheated by an act of commission/ommission which resulted in down gradation of the AF cadre and lower pay and allowances. The revealations will be in two/three parts in Q/A form.

Q:        Did you get rank pay at IV & V CPC in real terms?

A:        NO. What appears as ‘rank pay’ is notional even after the partial implementation of SC order by UOI/MoD.

Q         What has CDAO paid now after the SC judgment?

A.        CDAO Pune has only paid the difference of total emoluments which u were paid (drawn) and what you should have got (Due) without deduction of rank pay. By so doing it has also violated the instruction of MoD which said that the minimum initial pay for each rank be refixed without deduction of rank pay in terms of para 6(a)(ii) of SAI of 1987 as per their own letter of 27 Dec 2012.

Q.        For a moment let us presume that if no rank pay was granted what would then be the scales of offrs when migrating from III CPC to IV CPC equivalent to civ scales?

A:        The equivalent civ scales would have been: Capt 3000-100-3600; Major 4100-125-4850-150-5300; Lt Col 4800-150-5700, Col 5100-150-5700; Brig 5900-200-6700. Rank pay would then have been over and above the revised scales at the recommended scales of IV CPC.

The edge given to armed forces officers in their pay scales as compared to civ offrs was due to ‘Special Disturbance Allowance’ which existed before III CPC and continued thereafter.

Q         How the scales were manipulated to form integrated scale of 2300-100-3900-150-4200-EB—150-5100?

A         Documentary evidence exists with RDOA that:

In the integrated pay scales for each rank there was a minimum pay fixed for separate ranks. This minimum was arrived at after deduction of rank pay. So then we have as per para 6 (a)(ii) of SAI of 1987 the minimum for each rank as:

Capt 3000(2800+RP200); Major 4000(3400+RP600); Lt Col 4700 (3900+RP800);
Col 5500 (4500+RP1000); Brig 6150 (4950+RP 1200). So in real terms you never got rank pay.

Your scale was divided into two components of basic pay plus rank pay. As per para 8.65 of IV CPC Report Civs who were in Senior Adm Grade II & I (SAG) at 3CPC were upgraded and given the scale of 5900-200-6700;  but this was not extended to the Armed Forces. So Col and Brig got clubbed in the same scale of SAG II. Had that been given then Brig would have started at 5900-200-6700. These depressed scales by an amount equal to rank pay got carried fwd to V CPC and then on to VI CPC reducing the pay scales and status of AF officers vis a vis civ counterparts.

The entire integrated scale was compressed for offrs from Capt to Brig in the equivalent civil scale of JTS starting with 3000-100-3500-125-5000 which was improved by the Pay commission to 5100 with rank pay to be paid in addition at the recommended rates.

Q         What then should be the correct integrated scale from the rank of Capt to Brig?

A         The integrated scale after refixation of initial pay in terms of para 6(a)(ii) would also get modified to the extent of adding Rs 200 at start of scale of Capt and Rs 1200 at top of integrated scale equivalent to the deducted rank pay as given:

Existing:         2300-100-3900-150-4200 EB-150-5100

Revised:       2300-100-3900-150-5850-200-6300

Q         What the SC order says?

A         The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its order of 04 Sept 2012 corrected this grave anomaly. The judgment very clearly stipulated that the pay of all officers be refixed from 01/01/86 without deduction of rank pay.

So where ever deduction of rank pay is involved it has to be restored back. CDAO has only calculated the total emoluments without deduction of rank pay but has left out the refixation in terms of para 6 (a) (ii) which is affecting all officers whether pre 86/as on 1/1/86 or promoted after 1/1/86 and then on to V & VI CPC.

Q         What should be the correct refixation without deduction of rank pay?

A         To take an example, for the Major and Major(SG) that existed before IV CPC, the nearest civil eqvts were the Comdt and Comdt(SG) of the CG/BSF etc, though the CG being relatively new did not have Comdt(SG) at the time.

The Civil Services also had JAG (Dy Secy) and JAG(SG)/Director. But JAG (9 yrs) did not correspond with Maj/Comdt(11 yrs) but all SG levels became the same when the CPC instituted uniform progression to SG level at 14 years.

The post IV CPC scales of Comdt and Comdt(SG) started at 4100 and 4500 respectively. This is where the Maj/Maj(SG) would have started if we had not gone into the convulsions of integrated scale, RP etc.

 Now the CDA calculation says minimum for Major (11 yrs) is 3600, less than the start of JAG/Dy Secy (3700) at 9 yrs. It cannot by any stretch be less than 3700/- plus two increments.
The V CPC Anomalies reports(High Level Committee and Group of Officers) had also already accepted and implemented 14300/- min(replacement of the IV CPC 4500/-) for Major at 14 years and now they are saying 13500/- for Lt Col instead of a few increments over 14300/-.

 After due modification in terms of para 6(a)(ii), the revised initial fixation of pay in the integrated scale for officers from the rank of Captain to Brig & equivalent would be as shown.

Rank	Reckonable yrs of service for pay	Existing Initial Pay as per SAI of 87	Revised Initial Pay w/o deduction of rank pay	Rank pay	Total pay (Rs Pm)
Captain	5	2800	3000	200	3200
Major	11	3400	4050	600	4650
Lt Colonel	16	3900	4800	800	5600
Colonel	20	4500	5550	1000	6550
Brigadier	23	4950	5900	1200	7100

 

Once the minimum basic pay changes, the pension of all pre 1986 officers as well as those who got promoted after 1/1/86 would also change.

Concluded