JCOs are gazetted officers, clarifies Army
New Delhi: Amid the persisting heart-burn in the armed forces over the entire issue of rank equivalence between military officers and their civilian counterparts, the Army has clarified junior commissioned officers (JCOs) like subedar majors, subedars and naik subedars are "gazetted officers (Class-B)" and not "non-gazetted" officers.
While the clarification will come as a relief for the over 90,000 JCOs in the 12-lakh strong Army, the officers in the three Services are waiting with bated breath for the defence ministry's decision on the contentious rank parity issue.
The defence ministry (MoD) in October last year had issued a controversial letter to equate a Major General (Rear Admiral in Navy and Air Vice-Marshal in IAF) with a principal director in Armed Force Headquarters (AFHQ) Civil Service. Similarly, a Brigadier (Commodore/Air Commodore) with 25-26 years of service was made equivalent to a director (with about 14 years of service), and a Colonel/Captain/Group Captain to a joint director in the civil service.
After a major uproar in the armed forces, the ministry of defence had clarified that the "entire issue" would be re-examined by a three-member committee, headed by an additional secretary-rank officer, with the aim to "resolve it once and for all". But nothing much has come out of it till now.
MoD officials, however, say the rank-parity issue is being "studied from all angles" in great detail. "It's no one's intention to benefit one side at the cost of the other. We are also being cautious that no false equivalence is created or allowed," said an official.
As for the JCOs, the Army headquarters has cancelled a communication issued by it in 2011, in response to an RTI application, which had stated that the JCOs had the status of non-gazetted officers. Correcting the "major mistake", the Army headquarters has now made it clear that JCOs are gazetted officers to remove the confusion.
Army, Navy and IAF officers, who collectively number around 62,000, on their part, complain that successive pay commissions have degraded their status, rank, parity and equivalence as compared to their civilian counterparts. "On the rank parity issue, for instance, a Group of Minister's decision in 2009 to correct the anomaly has not been taken into account," said an officer.https://m.timesofindia.com/india/jc...m&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TOIIndiaNews
New Delhi: Amid the persisting heart-burn in the armed forces over the entire issue of rank equivalence between military officers and their civilian counterparts, the Army has clarified junior commissioned officers (JCOs) like subedar majors, subedars and naik subedars are "gazetted officers (Class-B)" and not "non-gazetted" officers.
While the clarification will come as a relief for the over 90,000 JCOs in the 12-lakh strong Army, the officers in the three Services are waiting with bated breath for the defence ministry's decision on the contentious rank parity issue.
The defence ministry (MoD) in October last year had issued a controversial letter to equate a Major General (Rear Admiral in Navy and Air Vice-Marshal in IAF) with a principal director in Armed Force Headquarters (AFHQ) Civil Service. Similarly, a Brigadier (Commodore/Air Commodore) with 25-26 years of service was made equivalent to a director (with about 14 years of service), and a Colonel/Captain/Group Captain to a joint director in the civil service.
After a major uproar in the armed forces, the ministry of defence had clarified that the "entire issue" would be re-examined by a three-member committee, headed by an additional secretary-rank officer, with the aim to "resolve it once and for all". But nothing much has come out of it till now.
MoD officials, however, say the rank-parity issue is being "studied from all angles" in great detail. "It's no one's intention to benefit one side at the cost of the other. We are also being cautious that no false equivalence is created or allowed," said an official.
As for the JCOs, the Army headquarters has cancelled a communication issued by it in 2011, in response to an RTI application, which had stated that the JCOs had the status of non-gazetted officers. Correcting the "major mistake", the Army headquarters has now made it clear that JCOs are gazetted officers to remove the confusion.
Army, Navy and IAF officers, who collectively number around 62,000, on their part, complain that successive pay commissions have degraded their status, rank, parity and equivalence as compared to their civilian counterparts. "On the rank parity issue, for instance, a Group of Minister's decision in 2009 to correct the anomaly has not been taken into account," said an officer.https://m.timesofindia.com/india/jc...m&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TOIIndiaNews
