Who retired in the period of Jan 1996 to 06 Aug 2003 (PBOR) will get handsome arrears

Who retired in the period of Jan 1996 to 06 Aug 2003 (PBOR) will get handsome arrears

Dear Veterans,

 1.      This is for the financial benefit of Sepoys, Naiks, Direct Entry Havildars and Direct Entry Nb Subs retired in the period 01 Jan 1996 to 06 Aug 2003. They were denied the benefit of ACP (Assured Career Progression). The same is explained in subsequent paragraphs. 

ACP

2.      Due to lack of vacancies, many Sepoys having put in 15 years’ service retired in the rank of Sepoy. So are the Naiks, direct entry havildars and direct entry Nb Subs. The central government employee units and Armed Forces pay commission cells sought atleast two pay promotions to such personnel who could not get any promotion due to lack of vacancies in higher ranks, to keep up their morale and give incentive to make them work harder. The 5^th Central Pay Commission (Jan 1996 to Dec 2006) considered this just demand and recommended to the Govt of India to give two pay promotions to all those who do not get even one regular promotion due to lack of vacancies in higher ranks. The 5^th CPC suggested one pay promotion on completion of 10 years’ service if no promotion is given and second pay promotion on completion of 20 years’ service if the soldier can serve for 20 years.

3.      Benefit of ACP.

(a)     Sepoys. Sepoys who never got any promotion on completion of 10 years from date of enrolment are now given pay promotion of Naik, but continue to perform the duties of Sepoy as ACP is only a pay promotion and not a regular promotion. Since sepoys retire after putting 15 years’ service, now thanks to ACP they will get pay of Naik for next five years (on completion of 10 years’ service as Sepoy) and on retirement get pension of Naik.

(b)     Naiks. Normally, Sepoys get promoted as Naiks and that is called regular promotion. Such Naiks are eligible for only one promotion under ACP as maximum two promotions are permitted. Naiks who could not get promoted to the rank of Havildar on completion of 10 years’ service as Naik will get one pay promotion as Havildar and draw pay of Havildar but will perform duties of Naik only when they put in total service of 20 years. On retirement, such Naiks will get pension of Havildar.

(c)     Direct Entry Havildars. Army Education Corps has got direct entry havildars who are graduates. On being recruited as Direct Entry Havildars, they are given rank of Havildar from the date of enrolment. They also get two pay promotions in case they are not given regular promotion due to lack of vacancies. They get pay in service and pension on retirement as under: -

(i)       On Completion of 10 Years from Date of Enrolment. They get pay promotion as Nb Sub but perform duties of Havildar only but draw pay of Nb Sub.

(ii)      On Completion of 20 Years from Date of Enrolment They are given pay promotion of Subedar but they continue to perform duties of Havildar. On retirement they get pension of Subedar.

(iii)     In case promoted to the rank of Nb Sub with say 8 years from Date of Enrolment. They are Given pay promotion of Subedar only on completion of 20 years’ service from the date of enrolment. They get the pension of Subedar on retirement.

(d)     Direct Entry Nb Subs.  Those who obtained diploma in engineering or obtained qualification to be a religious teacher, were enrolled as Direct Entry Nb Subs. Any unit which has 120 men of one religion say Hindus, that unit is authorized a panditji in the rank of Nb Sub from day of enrolment as religious teacher. Similarly Sikh units which have 120 men practicing Sikh religion get granthi in the rank of Nb Sub. Similarly units with 120 muslim soldiers get a maulvi in the rank of Nb Sub. These are known as religious teachers. They get pay in service and pension on retirement if they are not given regular promotion as Subedar or Sub Maj as under: -

(i)       On Completion of 10 Years from Date of Enrolment. They get pay promotion as Subedar but perform duties of Nb Sub only but draw pay of Subedar in service and on retirement will get pension of Subedar.

(ii)      On Completion of 20 Years from Date of Enrolment They are given pay promotion of Sub Maj but they continue to perform duties of Nb Sub. On retirement they get pension of Sub Maj.

(iii)     In case promoted to the rank of Subedar with say 8 years from Date of Enrolment. Given pay promotion of Sub Maj only on completion of 20 years of service from date of enrolment.

4.      Though 5^th CPC recommended this welfare progrmme to both civilian central govt employees and defence services personnel, the Govt of India approved implementation of ACP scheme only from 07 Aug 2003.

5.      Consequences of ACP from 07 Aug 2003. All those Sepoys, Naiks, Direct Entry Havildar and Direct Entry Nb Subs who retired in this period did not get benefit of ACP and retired with the same rank in which they were enrolled. The benefit of ACP came only to those who retired on or after 07 Aug 2003. This is discrimination violating Art 14 of Constitution.

MACP (Modified Assured Career Progression)

6.      MACP was an improvement over ACP. 6^th CPC for Armed Forces Personnel gave three pay promotions on completion of 8 years’ service, 16 years’ service and 24 years’ service if no regular promotion is granted. The Govt of India approved the MACP scheme only from 01 Sep 2008.

7.      Legal Case for MACP from Jan 2006. Veteran Balbir Singh Turn and few more JCOs / OR challenged this discrimination of MACP not being granted from Jan 2006 in AFT.  They further argued that since Pay in pay band and grade pay being elements of pay and implemented from Jan 2006, there is no reason for MACP to be denied from Jan 2006 as this provides three pay promotions. For all purposes MACP is pay hence all JCOs / OR are eligible for three pay promotions if not granted regular promotion w.e.f. Jan 2006 ( and not from 01 Sep 2008 as per Govt’s order).  The argument of veteran Balbir Singh Turn was accepted and AFT directed the Govt of India to make MACP effective from Jan 2006 and not from 01 Sep 2008. Aggrieved by the judgment of AFT, the Govt of India filed a civil appeal no: 3744/2016 challenging the judgment of AFT in the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court on 08 Dec 2017 upheld the judgment of AFT and dismissed the civil appeal of Govt of India. Accordingly, Govt of India was forced to implement MACP from 01 Jan 2006 vide their letter dated 25 Jul 2018. All those who retired in the period of Jan 2006 to 31 Aug 2008 got three pay promotions as per MACP.

8.      Precedence. MACP which is pay for all purposes  got implemented on the intervention of Hon’ble Supreme Court from Jan 2006 and not from 01 Sep 2008. Thus, all JCOs / OR who retired in the period 01 Jan 2006 to 31 Aug 2008 got benefit of MACP. TSEWA during their National Executive Meeting held on 26 Feb 2022 discussed this issue of filing a case in AFT Delhi for granting benefit of ACP also from Jan 1996 and not from 07 Aug 2003 citing the judgment of above Hon’ble Supreme Court in CA No: 3744/2016. In the meantime, the advocate of TSEWA in AFT Delhi gave his legal opinion that ACP being a pay should also be made effective from 01 Jan 2006 on similar lines as MACP and not from the date of issuei.e. 07 Aug 2003. Our Advocate also confirmed that condonation of delay can be obtained as Hon’ble Supreme Court gave their judgment of MACP only in 2017 and Govt of India issued their letter implementing MACP in 2018. Thus, the precedence has been established and delay will be accepted even if a case for grant of ACP from Jan 1996 is filed after 25 years.

9.      Benefit of ACP from Jan 1996. All Sepoys, Naiks, Direct Entry Havildars and Direct Entry Nb Sub who retired in the period of Jan 1996 to 06 Aug 2003 were deprived benefit of ACP. They could have got one or two pay promotions due to ACP. They continue to draw pension of Sepoy from Jan 1996 and in OROP also, they get pension of Sepoy only and in CPCs i.e. 7 CPC onwards, they will continue to get pension of Sepoy only. Their widows on death of Sepoys also will get pension of a widow of Sepoy. Had these soldiers were given ACP from 01 Jan 1996, all of them would have definitely got one pay promotion and in some cases even two pay promotions. Subsequently in OROP – 2013, 7^th CPC they get pension of higher rank due to ACP.

10.    Eligibility to Join the Legal Case. Since ACP is a two pay promotion from Jan 1996, the following JCOs / OR are eligible to join the proposed legal case:-

(a)     Sepoy who retired in the period Jan 1996 to 06 Aug 2003 without any promotion in their entire service.

(b)     Naiks who retired in the above mentioned period and did not get promoted to the rank of Havildar due to lack of vacancies will now get arrears of pay in the service on or after 01 Jan 1996 & pension of Havildar on retirement.

(c)     Direct entry Havildars of AEC or any other corps who retired in the above period but did not get even one promotion will also get similar arrears.

(d)     Direct entry Havildars of AEC or any other Corps who got only one promotion are now eligible to get second pay promotion to the rank of Subedar and will get similar arrears.

(e)     Direct entry Nb Subs like Religious teachers and diploma in engineering who join Corps of Engineers, Corps of Signals or Corps of EME who did not get even one promotion will get similar arrears.

(f)      Direct entry Nb Subs who got only one promotion and did not get second promotion and retired in the above mentioned period will also get similar arrears.

11.    Not Eligible to Join the Legal Case.  The following are NOT eligible to join the proposed legal case:-

(a)     Those who got two promotions in their career.

(b)       Those who retired prior to Jan 1996.

12.    Arrears. When TSEWA wins the case in AFT Delhi, all those Veterans mentioned in para 10 above  who retired in the period of Jan 1996 to 06 Aug 2003 will get handsome arrears from  Jan 1996 to 30 Jun 2019. But the arrears worked are for the period Jul 2014 to Jun 2019 as pays of JCOs / OR from Jan 1996 to Jun 2014 is not known. Moreover pays vary for  each rank.  OROP – 2018 is likely to be implemented with financial benefit from Jul 2019 the likely arrears from Jul 2014 to Jun 2019 is worked out by taking data from circular 555 of PCDA (Pensions) Allahabad. The same is given below:-     Ser No Rank Likely Arrears from              Jul 2014 to Jun 2019 1 Sepoy with 10 years' service to Naik  68,837 2 Naik with 10 years' serivce to Havildar 1,24,119 3 Naik with 20 years' service to Nb Sub 2,41,386 4 Direct Entry Hav with 10 years' service to Nb Sub 1,32 039 5 Direct Entry Hav with 20 years' service to Subedar 5,10,946 6 Direct Entry Nb Sub with 10 years' service to Subedar 2,85,551 7 Direct Entry Nb Sub with 20 years' service to Sub Maj 5,52,826

13. Legal Fee. All those who desire to join the AFT Case for claiming the arrears, have to pay the following Legal Fee which is a very nominal fee:

 

(a)       Widows whose husbands are of any rank.  -    Nil.

(b)       Sepoys                                                         -    Rs 2,000

(c)       Naiks                                                            -    Rs 2,500

(d)       Havildars                                                      -    Rs 3,000

(e)       JCOs                                                            -    Rs 4,000

 

14. I am attaching the following documents which are required to be completed and submitted to the Advocate for filing the case: 

    (a) Vakalatnama for AFT (PB)

    (b) Authority Letter to Lead Litigant to Sign Affidavit

    (c) Certificate of Undertaking from the Individual

    (d)  TSEWA Membership Form

    (e) Sample Forms to guide in filling.

 

15. Members of TSEWA have to fill up Forms at (a), (b) and (c) above. Non Members of TSEWA who wish to join the case have to become Members of TSEWA and submit the Membership form at (d) above in addition to other forms mentioned above. The sample of forms for guiding on filling up the forms are also attached.   In addition, all Petitioners have to submit a copy of original and latest e-PPO along with the other Forms. 

16 The particulars of Bank Account of TSEWA for payment of Legal Fee are given below; The Legal Fee can be paid by Bank Transfer, DD or Cheque. In  case of Bank Transfer, it is important to attach proof immediately and send it by WhatsAPP to Mob Nos. 9494037781 (Mr. Anand, Supdt) or 9848511147 (Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, Accountant)  to facilitate linking of the payment. 

    (a) Name of Beneficiary - TSEWA

    (b) Name of Bank - SBI

    (c) Branch - Bhaskar Rao Nagar, Secunderabad

    (d) Account No. - 35088276014

    (e) IFSC - SBIN0015568

17. All documents mentioned above should be sent by Speedpost or Registered Post to TSEWA HQ at the address given below not later than 31 Mar 2022. 

    Tri Services Ex Servicemen Welfare Association (TSEWA)

    Flat No.101, H.No. 1-1-78/5

    Edifice Pride, Valluvar Nagar

    Ammuguda, Sainikpuri P.O.

    Secunderabad - 500 094

 

18. All queries and correspondence by e-mail should only be addressed to triservices.hyd@gmail.com. We look forward to your early participation and submission of the documents at the earliest. In the event the case is subscribed fully, the applications received late will be kept pending for inclusion in the second batch to be filed later as advised by the Advocate after progress is made in the first batch.