EXSERVICEMAN STATUS-- DOPT defination-injustice to HONRABALLY retiredTA officers with GRATUITY
Lt COL R S shekhawat
(Querist) 21 April 2011
This query is : Open
statement of case for ;-
Grant of Ex-Service men status and ensuing benefits to Honorably Retired \released\Discharged officers of TERRITORIAL ARMY alike Non pensioner SSCO & ECO
The Member of the Territorial Army being integral part of INDIAN ARMY are subject to INDIAN ARMY ACT 1950 governed by - DEFENSE SERVICE REGULATION, Regulations for the ARMY, PENSION REGULATIONS 1961 .
Officers in the TERRITORIAL ARMY are holding commission ,granted by the president of INDIA with designation of Rank corresponding to those of Indian commissioned officers of the regular Army , Granted Gratuity on their honorable retirement\ Discharge\Release after 05 years of aggregate embodied service / or 10 years of commissioned service alike Non pensioner SSCO\ECO
Yet are not granted EXSERVICEMAN status
ON CONTRARY
Non pensioner Short Service Commissioned Officers .
are treated as Ex-servicemen, on their discharge with Gratuity after 05 year commissioned service. inclusive of their pre-commissioning training period as CADET.
Honorably retired officers of TERRITORIAL ARMY are awarded Gratuity at par with All retiree of Indian Army which constitute one class. It is not LEGAL to single out certain persons of the same class for differential treatment. Denial of Ex-Service men status and ensuing benefits has created a class within a class amongst ALL honorably retired officers without rational basis and, therefore, becomes arbitrary and discriminatory.
judiciously commissioned Officers cashiered\ court marshaled \ discharged dishonorably on disciplinary grounds from Indian Armed forces are denied of Ex-Service men status and ensuing benefits
as per ARMY pension regulation Part-I 1961;- Gratuity is an kind of pension However, honorably released with Gratuity from TERRITORIAL ARMY are excluded from consideration as Ex-servicemen without any valued reason
Existing definition, laid down by the Department of Personnel & Training(DOP&T), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, which has been in vogue since 01 Jul1987,
Ex-servicemen;-
;-Who has served in any rank whether as a combatant or non- combatant in the regular Army, Navy or Air Force of the Indian Union but does not include a person who has served in the Defense Security Corps (DSC), the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), the Lok Sahayak Sena and the Para Military Forces
-The personnel of Territorial Army (TA) who are pension holders for continuous embodied service, persons with disability attributable to military service and gallantry award winners released on or after 15 Nov 1986 are eligible to status of ex-servicemen.
Pension & Gallantry award ;- are the compulsory criteria - for the personnel of Territorial Army to attain the status of Ex serviceman which can neither be assured Nor Guaranteed & seems practicably unfeasible abiding the Role\ service concept of Territorial ARMY
Denial of EXSERVICEMAN status to Honorably RETIRED (with gratuity ) officers of Territorial army is an open affront to their Reckonable embodied service rendered for national defense,& is wholly arbitrary, discriminatory and violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
services of Territorial army personnel in comparison to other Indian armed FORCES personnel is neither inferior nor services required by the Indian Armed Forces are superior to Territorial army
Indian Army is composed o those who have undertaken definite liability for military service, viz, combatant troops, administrative service/departments and enrolled non-combatants-The Army Comprises of-. The Regular Army; The Army Reserve
& The Territorial Army - Authority:-Defense service regulation
Definition of ex-servicemen:
Eligibility to the status of ex-servicemen of ex-Armed Forces personnel is governed by the definition of ex-servicemen issued by the Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions. The status of ex-servicemen of ex-Armed Forces personnel is decided based on the definition in vogue at the time of retirement/ release/discharge of the personnel.
The first definition of ex-servicemen had been notified by the DOP&T in 1966 and subsequently it was amended eight times.
Definition of EX serviceman As per the existing definition, laid down by the Department of Personnel & Training(DOP&T), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions,
which has been in vogue since 01 Jul 1987, an ex-servicemen means a person:
;-Who has served in any rank whether as a combatant or non- combatant in the regular Army, Navy or Air Force of the Indian Union but does not include a person who has served in the Defense Security Corps (DSC), the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), the Lok Sahayak Sena and the Para Military Forces
services of Territorial army personnel when compared to other armed personnel is neither inferior nor services required by the Armed Forces are superior to Territorial army .
When this is the position, to deny the status of EXSERVICEMAN to Honorably RETIRED Defense personnel’s of territorial army is wholly arbitrary, discriminatory and violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
" Territorial army is an integral part of Armed Forces", for the purpose of Article 33 of the Constitution of India.
But the discrimination in grant of Ex Serviceman status
Therefore, this is submitted before you with a sole aim to bring the most genuine grievances of Honorably Retired \Released\Discharged NON pensioners\Gratuity holders of TERRITORIAL ARMY with in the purview of EXSERVICEMAN status at par with SSCO.
