Serious questions about “fair play” are being raised on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) as the armed forces are ready with a written protest to be given to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

New Delhi, December 9 The representation has the views of all three services — the Army, the Navy and the IAF — and questions the very basis of the recommendations of the CPC and its calculation for pay and allowances for the defence personnel. Sources said the forces were ready with a written representation and have cited concrete examples of how the CPC has created additional anomalies over and above the ones pending since the previous commission constituted a decade ago. The facts presented before the commission are erroneous and the 899-page report has inaccuracies while dealing with military salaries is said to be contention of the representation. The forces have questioned the lowering of benchmarking of the three services. Till now equation of the balance was vis-à-vis the Indian Police Service. The Army Commanders and their equals in the Navy and the IAF were on a par with the Director Generals of Police. In the pecking order, the Chiefs of the services are above the Secretaries to the Government of India and also the DGPs. The 7th pay commission has removed the parity with the IPS and the new benchmarking is with central paramilitary forces. The issues of high rate of supersession and early retirement age in the armed forces have not been addressed while factoring in the salaries. The pay panel’s take on allowance is another issue over which armed forces are unhappy. The high altitude allowance for an officer in the Army posted at the Siachen glacier will be Rs 31,000 while in the civilian services there is tough area allowance which is about 33% of the basic salary. After the 7th pay commission, this would work out to be in excess of Rs 50,000 for the IPS and IAS. (Source- Tribune News Service