Ajay banerjee
Tribune news service
New Delhi, November 4
In a groundbreaking move, the Department of Military Affairs has initiated a twofold move: one to ‘revise’ – cut – the pension for those officers opting for early retirement and the second to raise the retirement age for officers of the forces Indian navies.
The issue has come under severe criticism as the pension formula will change in a way that could affect the financial situation of those who are now retiring. A senior lawyer, who deals with the matter of military law, said that “the DMA has no locus standi to alter the pension formula and it will be challenged in court.”
The DMA, headed by General Bipin Rawat, is the newly created entity under the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and is in charge of human resource issues and coordination between the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force (IAF) .
A letter sent by the DMA office on October 29 says that a draft of the Government Sanction Letter (GSL) is being prepared for November 10 for review by General Rawat, who is the Secretary of the DMA. and also the Chief of Defense Staff.
This letter proposes to increase the retirement age of colonels, brigadiers and major generals to 57 years, 58 years and 59 years, respectively. The same will apply to officers of similar ranks in the Navy and IAF. The existing retirement age for Colonels, Brigadiers and Major Generals is 54, 56, and 58, respectively.
The central issue is the pension formula, which is now suggested to have a format that increases emoluments with years of service.
Under the proposal, an official with 20-25 years of service will receive 50 percent of the “entitled pension.” The pension with existing entitlement is 50 percent of the last payment received. In other words, the pension will be cut in half.
An official in service for 26 to 30 years would receive 60 percent of the corresponding pension; those who complete between 30 and 35 years of service will receive 75 percent of the eligible pension. Only those who do more than 35 years of service will be entitled to a full pension, that is, 50 percent of the last payment received.
One official noted that only those who are commissioned at age 22 will be eligible for full pension after 35 years of service, as they could retire at Colonel’s at 57.
There has been an ongoing debate about increasing the Defense Ministry’s pension law since the “One rank, one pension” was implemented. In the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, the pension bill amounts to Rs 1,33,819 crore, which is 28 percent of the general budget of the Ministry of Defense at Rs 4,71,372 crore.
