As the New Year sets in, there is disgruntlement in the military as they are yet to receive their revised pay under the Seventh Pay Commission (SPC). This is because the issue is held up pending resolution of the core concerns raised by the services with respect to their civilian counterparts in the SPC recommendations.
Defence sources said that the government had in principle agreed to most of the core concerns expressed by the services but stated that the issue being complicated it would take some more time.
“The issue is currently being discussed between the Defence and Finance ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office. A decision will be taken at the earliest,” a source observed.
The Defence Ministry has already issued the implementation order, which is pending further process as the services have not issued special instructions so far despite the government’s request, and thus military personnel continue to receive the Sixth Pay Commission prescribed salaries unlike their civilian counterparts.
Letter to PM, Parrikar
The three Chiefs had written to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the discrepancies which were not cleared by the empowered committee appointed to look into the issue. “The finance wing of the Ministry sought the financial implication of these concerns from the services two weeks ago.” another source stated.
Around the same time, the Lavasa committee, appointed to look into the issue of allowances under the SPC, held its 7th meeting. “The Defence Ministry has largely supported the concerns of the services,” the source added.
The services had on several occasions raised four core concernswhich they perceive reduce the status of the armed forces with respect to their civilian counterparts. These include Non Functional Upgrade (NFU), NFU pay fixation, Military Service Pay (MSP) and common pay matrix for civil and military.
Ahead of Diwali in November the Government approved a one-time 10 per cent interim relief for military personnel for a period of 10 months from January to October 2016 pending resolution of the issue.
