Sixth pay commission: PM set to clear forces' demand over pay

Sixth pay commission: PM set to clear forces' demand over pay

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to clear the demands of the armed forces on the sixth pay commission.

Officers of the Lieutenant Colonel rank will now get Rs 10,000 more than the present salary per month.

As per the new provisions, the three star officers will be at par with Director Generals of Police.

It also makes provisions for retiring jawans to continue to get pension equivalent to 70 per cent of their the last pay the draw.

However, the demand for pay parity between military and civilian officers has been rejected.

In October, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony.

A ministerial committee, headed by Mukherjee, was set up to look into the armed forces' grievance about pay "anomalies".

The committee, which also included Antony and Chidambaram, was set up by the Prime Minister on September 25 in the wake of deep resentment in the armed forces, who complained that there were "anomalies" in the sixth pay commission recommendations and that it had lowered the status of their officers.

After the government notification was issued on August 29, the issues of "anomalies" in the pay for officers was first raised by Air chief Fali Homi Major in his letter in his capacity as acting Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC).

Chiefs of Navy and Army too have been voicing their resentment.

Source: ndtv.com