Dear Members of TSEWA,

It is with pride, happiness, sense of achievement, I take immense pleasure to inform all of you TSEWA has won the first legal case today 04 Nov 2016 in AFT Delhi in our case OA No: 166/2016: Getting Broad Banding benefit to defence pensioners. The judgment delivered today says Govt of India to give benefit of broad banding to the litigants in the legal case within three months with arrears with effect from three years from date of filing the case in AFT Delhi failing which the Govt of India will pay interest 9% per annum thereafter.

What makes me happy is that our veteran brothers of the rank of Sepoy could get judgment for small fee of Rs 2,000 whereas as any Advocate in AFT charges fees ranging between Rs 15,000 to 25,000 and also collect 25% of arrears one is likely to get.

This great success is possible only for the sustained efforts and self – less service given by the following  Office bearers of TSEWA just to cite a few :-

(a)  Col N Sitaramaiah – All India Coordinator and Vice President who handled documentation from all litigants, checked them for correctness, dealt with litigants to get correct data/details/documents, collected legal fees, liaised with HQ TSEWA to ensure all litigants who paid legal fees are not left out, preparation of legal brief, memo of parties, liaising with Brig SKS Rana, VSM , Head Legal Div, TSEWA at Gurgaon. To get even a lead litigant is a herculean task as many decline for fear of going to the AFT every time the case comes up for hearing. He shouldered all his responsibilities without any complaints. He constantly gave progress of the case right from the time he received documents to the hundreds of litigants. Hats off to him, he deserves accolades from all of us. I can say officers from Secunderabad paid Rs 45,000 per head to their advocate in Delhi. Compare our legal fees. It is just Rs 5,000 per officer.

(b)   Col Dr GB Sethi, General Secretary, TSEWA. If anyone who works hardest in TSEWA, one is Col Dr GB Sethi and the other is Brig SKS Rana, VSM.  The amount of work as Gen Secy has to do with a legal case is seen to be believed. The perfect documentation to ensure none is missed out who paid legal fees is colossal. He was constantly in touch with All India Coordinator and Brig SKS Rana, VSM to progress of the case, monitoring progress of preparation of legal brief and memo of parties, transfer of money to our legal advocate is very complex. He answers hundreds of calls he receives from litigants and potential litigants. He deserves our full some compliments and without his full time involvement this case would not have been filed.

(c)   Lt Col G Parvathesam, Treasurer.  TSEWA has no experience of filing even one legal case. We had to start from scratch. The most complex and difficult task in filing legal case is that of Treasurer. He has to account for every rupee he received. This becomes extremely difficult when he was handling almost 10 legal cases. Lt Col G Parvathesam right from morning till evening was on the job pouring over so many documents, NEFT transactions, reconciling money received through wire transfer, cheques, demand drafts with our account book. It is mind boggling job only he can do. I do not think I could have done what Lt Col Parvathesam did. It is simply a miracle.

(d)   Gp Capt CRR Sastry, Legal Advisor, HQ TSEWA.  He was the last word on all legal matters. Involved from 12 Jun 2015 when a decision was taken to form TSEWA. He took pains to go to Delhi along with Cdr Chandra Shekhar, former Vice President, TSEWA, liaised with Brig SKS Rana, VSM and our AFT Advocate Brig Anil Kumar Srivastav, VSM to understand how to file a case in AFT and collected sample of all documents. He briefed us as to how proceed from start to the end. He in consultation with Col N Sitaramaiah, All India Coordinator assisted in making the legal brief citing various judgments of hon’ble Supreme Court, hon’ble High Courts and AFTs and memo of parties. He checked all documents which is second level of checks and reconciled with Treasurer the legal fees received. He is a great asset to TSEWA and we applaud his efforts. Due to fatigue and hardwork he had to undergo medical procedure. Without his involvement we could not have got the success today.

(e)   Brig SKS Rana, VSM, Head Legal Division, TSEWA.  The most difficult task of mine is to explain what all Brig SKS Rana, VSM did. From the time TSEWA was formed he offered his services to help us to file the case in AFT Delhi. He is a senior vice president of a corporate in Gurgaon, busy from 0900 hrs to 2000 hrs daily in the office. Yet sacrificing his family commitments, after coming home, he works for TSEWA till late into night. Grateful TSEWA vested him all powers in him to negotiate legal fees, payment procedure, informing progress of legal cases filed in AFT Delhi to the environment, collecting legal documents sent from HQ TSEWA, making third level check for correctness, getting missing data /documents from litigants. Thereafter he goes to Brig AK Srivastava, VSM, our advocate briefs him on the legal case and gives him all the inputs to defend the case. He constantly interacts with our advocate to find the progress of each case and briefs the environment from time to time.

(f)   Brig Anil Srivastava, VSM, Our Legal Advocate in AFT.  We might do all what is required to be done but the our advocate has to carry out fourth level check of documents, get them missing documents / data, make a number of copies of bulky documents and file the case following the AFT procedure. If one mistake is committed the AFT is likely to refuse to admit the case. Thereafter attending every hearing and argue the case in very logical, cogent and convincing manner. If we all made the cake, the icing is by Brig Anil Srivastava, VSM to whom we in TSEWA owe a great deal of gratitude.

(g)  Litigants.  We thank all the litigants for reposing faith in us.

(h)  Other Members of Core Gp, Executive Committee and Presidents of States, TSEWA.  All of them deserve credit for this success. All of them in their own way contributed immensely to the success of our legal case.

Col N Sitaramaiah after getting certified copy of judgement (soft copy) from Brig SKS Rana, VSM will send the soft copy to all litigants. Thereafter all litigants are requested to forward an application demanding implementation of broad banding to their respective offices (JCOs/OR) and Army HQ (AGs Branch/PS-4 Legal) enclosing a hard copy of judgment. Once the documents are received Record Office /AGs Branch will send the case recommending to PSAs to issue Corr PPO for disability element enhancing their disability as per existing policy on Broad Banding (50%, 75% and 100%).

I am happy to inform we have obtained OA Nos (34/2016, 168/2016 & 664/2016) and are about to file four more cases already sent to Gurgaon. Once the vacancies in the two benches of AFT Delhi are filled up, we will soon file the case.

We also have few more legal cases ready in HQ TSEWA complete in all respects but will be sent only once green signal is received from Brig SKS Rana, VSM. The delay in filing is on account of two benches not functioning in AFT Delhi. We sincerely hope this temporary phase will soon be over and once all the three benches start function we will file all the cases. The litigants in all cases are requested to show patience and pray soon the benches commence functioning. All litigants of other cases may find out latest position of cases from your All India Coordinator.

warm regards,

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)

President, TSEWA