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Ex- Soldiers, Sailors & Airmen
Association (Regd.)
# 3 Guru Ram Dass Nagar, Tripuri Road,

Patiala - 147 004.Punjab, India.

ESSAA/13/2010 (Reminder-1) Dt. 25 Aug, 2010

To
Secretary to Govt. of India,
Ministry of Defence,
Department of Defence Welfare,
101, Fourth Block,
New Delhi- 110011.

Sub. Omission and discrepancies in the Modified Parity in Pension.

Dear Sir,
Kindly refer to our letter dt. 1, July, 2010 in above connection. This organization has observed the following omissions and discrepancies affecting a large number of ex-servicemen and widows which need to be looked into and corrected at your level at the earliest to avoid further frustration and heartburn among the JCO's, SNCO's, NCO's, OR's and Widows.
1. Minimum pension for Defence Pensioners: Minimum pension of Rs. 3500/- for defence pensioners can not be justified by any stretch of law. The amount of minimum pension (Rs. 3500/-) for civilian was fixed by adding the minimum pay in band I i.e. Rs. 5200/- & grade pay of Rs. 1800/- and then divided by 2 which amounts to Rs. 3500/-.
Following the same principle, minimum pension for ex-servicemen amounts to Rs. 4600/- i.e. minimum Pay in Band I- Rs. 5200/- + Grade Pay- 2200/- + MSP Rs. 2000/- and then divided by 2. The additional element of MSP is exclusive for ex-servicemen without which there is no justification of granting minimum pension to ex-servicemen and this minimum pension be paid to widows and reservists too.
2. Grant of same pension to Hony Naib. Sub. as given to regular Naib Sub.: 6th Central Pay Commission has recommended this and the Govt. has already agreed, in principal, to implement the same but it has not been incorporated in the circular 430 dated 10-03-2010.
We request that the same should be implemented at the earliest.
3. Removal of the condition of 10 months pay: Sixth Pay Commission has recommended for removal of condition of 10 months pay in the rank for fixation of pension in that rank but in the orders for modified parity, the govt. has again considered the rank in which the pension was granted initially keeping in view the condition of 10 months pay in that rank. By this many ex-servicemen have suffered a great loss.
4. Discrepancies in the tables issued by Directorate of Pension in department of defence pensioner's welfare: It is further pointed out that there are many glaring discrepancies in the tables prepared by the Govt. in respect of pension of various ranks in Army & Air Force as given below.
As per the tables, certain junior ranks have been authorized more pension than the senior ranks. For example: Sepoy with 15 years of service in Group-X is entitled for Rs. 5368/- PM whereas Naik and Havaildar, with the same years of service and in the same group, are entitled for Rs. 5290/-PM & 5355/-PM respectively. We request the removal of these anomalies at the earliest.
5. Date of implementation of Modified parity in pension: There is no justification granting modified parity in pension to JCO's and below w.e.f. 01-07-2009 since the parity has been given between the pre-1996 and post 10-10-1997 retirees and the same benefit has been already been paid to Hony Officers and above w.e.f. 01-01-1996, way back in year, 1999. We request that orders for modified parity in pension (circular no. 430) be implemented w.e.f. 01-01-1996 instead of 01-07-2009.
In view of above we humbly request that the above omissions and discrepancies be corrected at the earliest to avoid further frustration among the ex-servicemen and widows who are otherwise satisfied with the modified parity in pension granted by the govt.


Sd/-
Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
President
Copy to:
1. Director (Pension/Policy) Ministry of Defence, 213, A Wing, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi for information and necessary action at his end in respect of Para 4 above. He is also requested to clarify the intention conveyed by the Govt. in the note below Para 3.5, page-2 of its letter no. PC 10 (1)2009-D (Pen/Policy) dt. 8th March, 2010. This refers to our verbal discussion in Pension Adalat at Pathankot on 22-07-2010.


Sd/-
Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
President