Updated: A Million Salutes to Col Mukul Dev, Saviour of Armed Forces (NFU Case)

Original Post

On 23 Dec 2016, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) passed a historic judgement granting pay parity to the defence officers with the civilian group 'A' officers.

Since 1947, Armed Forces especially those in  officer cadre have been brought down continuously in status, basic payscales , pension and perks thanks to the successive Pay Commissions headed by the civilian judges with civilian bureaucrats as the members.

Situation reached alarming levels post 2006 when almost every Tom, Dick and Harry in the civil services' officer cadre started getting pay of Major General after just 19 years of service and that of a Lt General after just 27 years of service.

The loot came through the magic wand called 'NFU' i.e. non-functional upgradation granted to the civilian officers by the GOI.

On some funny pretext the armed forces, the last resort of the nation in any emergency were denied the benefits of the NFU. This resulted in lots of heart burning and lowering of the morale of the defence officers.
Every civil service (organised group A) officer was granted the pay (and hence pension) of Lt Gen (Rs 67000-79000) after 27 years of service whereas 80% of defence officers were made to retire in the payscale of Colonel i.e. just Rs 37400-67000 with grade pay of Rs 8700.

Thus grave injustice was done to the defence officers. Not only was their status lowered but also their pay and pension.

A DIG with just 14 years of service started equating himself with a Brigadier with 30 years of service and a Joint Secretary with just 17 eyars service started equating himself with a Major General of 33 years service.

Even Field Marshal Cariappa, Field Marshal Manekshaw, General Thimayya etc. could not arrest the steady downfall of the defence officers.

What could not be done by the Greats like Cariappa, Manekshaw and Thimayya has been done by a man called Mukul Dev who is a serving Colonel of the Indian Army.

Col Mukul Dev

Col Mukul Dev and his lawyer Col Manglik have been able to convince the Indian Court that Army, Navy and the Air Force are also organised group 'A ' service and are hence entitled to the non-functional upgradation like the civilian non-IAS officers who get the payscale of the IAS officer after a 2 years lag.

GOI has been denied to appeal against the verdict in the SC thanks to the forceful argument put by Col Mukul Dev.

Hence if an IAS officer becomes Joint Secretary after 17 years, now defence officers will get that (Maj Gen) payscale after 19 years of service.

If an IAS officer becomes Addtl. Secretary after 25 years, now defence officers will get that (Lt Gen) payscale after 27 years of service.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE AFT ORDER ON NFU

1. Pay of all defence officers who were serving on 01 Jan 2006 will be revised based on the NFU.
2. Arrears will be given not from 2006 but for the last 3 years only.
3. Veteran officers who retired post 01 Jan 2006 will also get the benefit of NFU because their pay and hence pension will be revised wef 01 Jan 2006.
4.  Veteran officers who retired before 01 Jan 2006 will also get the benefit of NFU after the next equalisation of the OROP.

For more reading

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/armed-forces-to-get-pay-parity-with-civil-services/341127.html
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/aft-allows-petition-seeking-nfu-for-defence-officers-at-par-with-group-a-services-4441872/

Career & Pension Blues of the Indian Army Jawans

Question 1: Is Army a better career option than Police?

Answer: Please see the following table to arrive at your own conclusions.

Both the Army Jawan and the Policeman start at the same basic pay of Rs 21700. An Army Jawan also gets Military Service Pay of Rs 5200.

An Army Jawan is retired at the age of 35 onwards. Almost 80% Jawans retire by the age of 40 when they are in the prime of their youth, energy and health. That is time they have maximum family committment. No further employment is assured to them. Hardly 20% get reemployment.Most of them land up doing jobs of security guards at measly salary of Rs 8000 or so.


A Policeman retires at 60 and thus is able to serve another 20 years more than an Army Jawan.

At the time of retirement, Policeman will get pension of Rs 37150 whereas an Army Jawan will get pension ranging from of Rs 21100 to Rs 24000.

Thus a Policeman gets around 65% more pension than the Army Jawan due to the truncated career of the Jawan.

Thus inspite of the much hyped OROP (one rank one pension) and the MSP, an Army Jawan continues to be at a great loss careerwise and pensionwise.

Question 2: Which Pension Formula is the best for the Army Jawans?

 Answer: It is believed that before the 3rd Pay Commission, Army Jawan used to get pension as 70% of the last pay drawn compared to the civilians who used to get 33% of the last pay drawn as pension.

Before the 6th Pay Commission, Army Jawan used to get pension based on the 50% of top of the payscale.

However after the 6th pay Commssion, Army Jawan was given pension at 50% of the last pay drawn. Military Service Pay of Rs 2000 was given and included in the pay.

After the 7th Pay Commission, the MSP has been hiked to Rs 5200 and is included in the pay on which pension is calculated at 50% of the last pay drawn.

The following table gives the pension due to the Jawan under the various formulae.

It is very clear, that Jawans were benefitted the most by the pension formula in vogue before the 3rd CPC.
A Jawan retiring after 17 years at basic pay of Rs 37000 would have got pension of Rs 25900 with this formula without any MSP; pension of Rs 21780 with the pre-6th CPC formula. However in spite of getting MSP of Rs 5200, a Jawan will get much lower pension at Rs 21100 after the 7th pay Commission. This repersents a loss of Rs 4800, almost 19% in pension.

Hence it is desirable that Jawans should be given pension at 70% of the last pay drawn.

Grant of MSP along with tinkering of the pension formula has actually lowered the pensions, in fact. Surprising! Sadly, the Pay Commission officials have overlooked this fact.

Career: Indian Army no match with the Indian Police

Far Higher Basic Pay Scales of Indian Police Officers.

Much Lower Basic Pay Scales of Indian Army Officers.

Basic Pay Scale affects pension & status/protocol also.

Training period of Police Officer counted for service, pay, promotion, increment & pension but not counted for an Army Officer.

Why these disparities?

Why this discrimination with Army Officers?

What is the solution?

Delink basic pay scale with rank and link it with years of service on Non- functional  basis.

(Can someonemake similar tables for the JCOs/NCOs/ORs?)