After the passage of a significant portion of the remainder of their lifetimes, veteran Officers who had held regular commissions and retired as Major and Lt Col prior to 16 Dec 2004, implementation date of Phase-I recommendations of AV Singh Committee, can, perhaps begin to see some rays of hope on the distant horizon for the righting of a wrong in having been denied pensionary benefits of the next higher time bound ranks viz., Lt Col and Col (TS) respectively.
The hope comes in the dismissal by Hon'ble Supreme Court of a Civil Appeal (Diary Number 31788/2022) filed by the Union of India against judgment Of Armed Forces Tribunal Chennai in case OA 268 of 2018 that had ruled in favour of application of Cdr SP Ilangovan (Retired) who had sought pensionary benefits at par with those applicable to veterans retiring in the rank of Capt TS (IN) from 16 Dec 2004.
Judgement of the Armed Forces Tribunal is embedded below:
Though the applicant chose, as is apparent from text of the judgment, to stress upon his rank of Cdr (SG) being superior to that of a Cdr (TS), the judgement itself is the voice of rationality itself in recognising the need to accord pensionary benefits of the next higher time-bound ranks to pre 16 Dec 2004 retirees if they had retired with requisite service.
Having been a Lt Col of select grade or time-scale is actually no grounds for discrimination against the latter as Officers with both kinds of Lt Col ranks were given rank of Col (TS) if they continued to serve after 16 Dec 2004 and earned pensions of Col(TS) on their retirement
By dismissing the Civil Appeal of Union of India, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has opened up prospects for rationalising of pensions as ruled in the judgment of the Armed Forces Tribunal. Order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court on the case needs ro be examined under legal advice to be able to understand its applicability.
But then, this is just one hopeful sign. Whether or not it leads to a full resolution is something time alone will tell.
As to how and when this will translate into relief for pre 16 Dec 2004 pensioners/family pensioners in ranks of Maj and Lt Col, remains to be seen.
Most veterans won't have forgotten the tortuous course of the Rank Pay litigation years ago.
This event, however, does mark an update to concerns expressed on this blog many moons ago. Please read 🠊🠊 This Blog Post
Anybody’s guess whether respondents will comply with para 17b of judgement of AFT Chennai or go in for a review petition in Hon’ble Supreme Court after dismissal of their leave to appeal. Would it be too much to expect that respondents accept opinion of AFT in para 16 of order? https://t.co/BjF2iuLcKV
— Sunlit_Tweets (@Sunlit_Tweets) October 3, 2024
