LETTER TO SH L K ADVANI DATED 25 DEC 2010

Dear All
A copy of my letter to Sh. L K Advani is enclosed for your information plea
se. The aim is to get our issues raised with the Govt and discussed in Parliam
ent in the coming Parliament session.
With Regards,
Jai Hind
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement
Mobile: 9312404269, 0124-4110570
Email: satbirsm@gmail.com
------------
Dated: 25 Dec 2010
To,
Shri L. K. Advani
Chairman NDA,
30 Prathvi Raj Road,
New Delhi -110003
REDRESSAL OF GRIEVANCES OF EX SERVICEMEN
Dear Shri Advani Jee
1. We wish to bring to your notice that the Govt continues to deny the legitima
te demands of Defence Personnel. Not only it has not accepted our main demand
of OROP, it has hardened its attitude in denying us the due justice. The fact t
hat 4000 cases were heard by the various Armed Forces Tribunals (AFTs) in the la
st one year and ninety percent (3600) cases had been decided in favour of the De
fence Personnel reveals the extent of Injustice. The injustice did not stop here
. The Govt has not implemented the judgements. This was recently revealed by th
e Chief of AFTs Justice (Retd) AK Mathur. If this is the attitude the Govt is s
howing to the judgements of an adjudicatory body ie AFTs, what will be the outco
mes of the recommendations which will be made by the recently constituted Armed
Forces Grievances Redressal Commission on the orders of the Supreme Court which
is only a recommendatory body?
2. What recommendations is the Govt waiting for to grant OROP to the Defence P
ersonnel? OROP has been accepted by almost all PMs and RMs since 1983 but it has
not been sanctioned. The all parties parliamentary standing committees on Defen
ce have been recommending the grant of OROP; the latest recommendations were mad
e on 07th May 2010 while tabling its report and again, the chairman of the stand
ing committee on Defence Sh. Satpalji Maharaj on 27th Aug 2010 recommended the O
ROP in his letter to the RM. However, it is surprising that the Defence Minister
, recently in parliament while rejecting the grant of OROP quoted that a committ
ee of bureaucrats had not recommended it. This is even more surprising since it
raises the basic question of civilian control of Defence Forces. As it should
be that the civilian control of Defence Forces means control by the elected repr
esentatives of the people ie the parliament and not control by the bureaucrats.
It is understood that the elected representatives take assistance of the bureauc
rats in the smooth governance of the country, but it does not mean that the elec
ted representative should give in to the designs of the bureaucrats who seem to
have been ill-treating the military.
3. Also, the manner the Govt is contesting the court judgements given in favo
ur of the Defence Personnel defies all logic. The rank pay judgement in which a
serious anomaly of 4th Pay Commission has been corrected by the SC, is yet to be
implemented. On the contrary Govt has appealed to the SC for recalling of its
decision. The Govt Attorney on 14 Nov 2010, even suggested to the SC that the Go
vt plans to refer the rank pay case to the proposed Armed Forces Grievances Redr
essal Commission. The SC judge Sh.Markandey Katju sternly told the Govt Attorney
that the judgement on the rank pay has already been given and the Govt petition
for recall of decision will be referred to the Chief Justice to be further refe
rred to another bench. Appealing against the judgement of the Supreme Court, to
say the least tantamounts to a grossly hostile Government attitude towards the
Defence Personnel. It is the Government s moral duty to withdraw the application
and implement the Supreme Court Judgement.

4. Why the Govt has adopted negative attitude towards the Defence Forces, is n
ot understood. The Defence Forces are anguished and hurt about the manner their
status has been downgraded and they have been given raw deal in their compensat
ion package and emoluments. It is a settled issue that senior defence personne
l should never draw less pay and pension from their juniors and the similarly pl
aced defence personnel must get the same pension irrespective of the date of ret
irement. However, both these settled issues have been seriously violated by the
Govt in case of Defence Personnel pensions. Defence Personnel who are three to
four ranks junior are getting higher pension than their seniors. A Lt Col who
retired post 2006 gets more pension that a major General and a Sepoy who retired
post 2006 gets more pension that a Havildar who retired before 01-01-2006.
5. The Govt has been more than unfair to the widows of defence personnel. Ir
onically, the service widows were kept out of the purview of Government orders d
ated 08 Mar 2010, where the pensions of Junior Commissioned Officers and other r
anks were enhanced. When this was pointed out in a letter to the Hon ble Prime Mi
nister, the reply from the PMO received through Army Headquarters, is while citing
the Cabinet Secretary s Committee .. No recommendations in respect of family pensions w
as made by the Committee . Whatever be the compulsions of the Government to be bo
und by the recommendations of the subordinate committee that the Government had
itself constituted, the decision seems to prefer technicalities over sensitiviti
es. This harsh decision to exclude the most needy has caused great consternatio
n among the entire Ex Servicemen Community. The enhancement of pensions needs
to be extended to the service widows without any further delay so that they do n
ot feel discriminated against.
6. The indifferent attitude of Govt and the bureaucracy towards the legitimate
and genuine demands of the Ex Servicemen has resulted in the veterans having to
resort to sit-ins, depositing of medals and signing memorandum to the President
in Blood. This adversely reflects on the morale of the serving soldier who fe
els the same will be his lot after retirement.

7. As elected member of the Parliament and Chairperson of the NDA and senior l
eader of the opposition, we request you to please take up the above issues with
Govt and due justice be granted to Defence Personnel :-
(a) OROP be sanctioned at the earliest.
(b) Pensions of widows be enhanced without any further delay.
(c) The Govt must honour the judgement of the Supreme Court in the rank pay ca
se and stop appealing against the judgement on frivolous grounds.
(d) The Govt must honour and implement over 3600 judgements given in favour of D
efence Personnel by various Courts in the last one year without any further dela
y. Unnecessary litigation in terms of appeals against the courts judgements be
 stopped.
8. If required these issues be discussed in the both houses of the parliament
. A memorandum signed in blood by thousands of ESM which was handed over to the
staff at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 28 Nov 10 is enclosed. We look forward to a posi
tive response from you sir.
With Kind Regards,
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM,
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement (IESM),