Minutes of Meeting of Core Committee of TSEWA held at 0900 hrs on 17 May 2019 at 143, Vayupuri, Secunderabad
The following attended:
- Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd) – President, In Chair
- Col Dr GB Sethi (Retd) – General Secretary
- Lt Col G Parvathesam (Retd) – Treasurer
- Hony Capt B Joseph (Retd) – Joint Secretary
- Maj B Bikshapathy (Retd) – Member, NEC
- Col MJ Ganapathy (Retd) – Member
- Hony Capt MN Reddy (Retd) – President, TSEWA, Telangana
- Lt Col VS Ramana Reddy (Retd) – Member
- Col N Sitaramaiah (Retd) – Member
- Lt Col Vijay C Salins (Retd) – Member
- Lt Col N Ravi Chaudhury (Retd) – Member
The President welcomed all members for the meeting of the Core Committee and thanked them for sparing their time to contribute to growth of TSEWA with their suggestions / recommendations / ideas / opinions / views etc. He then requested General Secretary to commence the proceedings of the meeting.
General Secretary’s Points
Item No 1: Article of Gp Capt CRR Sastry on Reservists.: The General Secretary opined that the article on Reservists published in The Fauji India magazine needs to be modified as a letter to be sent to Hon’ble Raksha Mantri.
Decision of the Core Committee: Gp Capt CRR Sastry would be requested to modify the article into a letter to be sent to the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri. The hard copy on the letter head of TSEWA and signed by the President, TSEWA will to be sent to the Raksha Mantri and to all three service chiefs.
Item No 2: Creation of Post of CDS. The General Secretary informed that during the Independence speech on 15 Aug 2019, the Hon’ble Prime Minister announced decision of the Govt of India to create the post of Chief of Defence Staff to give a single point advice to the Government on military matters. He requested the President to give more details.
The President informed that Maj Gen Pushpendar Singh (Retd) in one of the mails gave out his views on role, responsibility and powers of CDS. CDS is not a new concept which is prevalent in most of the advanced countries like USA, UK, France, Germany and Australia to name a few. No future wars can be fought alone by Army or Navy or IAF. The wars are fought not only by Armed Forces but all organs of the Government and also people of the country contributing their mite towards the war effort. Jointness is the requirement for any future war. We have Andaman & Nicobar command known as FORTRAN. In case a threat is posed to A & N islands, then three wings of Armed Forces have to fight jointly. Therefore, the pre-dominant service head should be the theatre commander which in this case happens to be Navy. All forces of Army and IAF in addition to the Navy will be under his command to carry out operations. It is expected the theatre commander will seek advice from the Commander of Army and commander of IAF right from joint planning till execution. This will ensure all efforts of three services will be synchronised to win the battle with no service operating on its own unmindful of the strengths and limitation of the other two services. Jointness to some extent was seen in OP VIJAY in Kargil in 1999. But it was only due to understanding between the service chiefs of Army and IAF.
Col N Sitaramaiah felt that unless the Min of Def has fair representation of military men, no jointness will achieve the desired results. As on date Defence Secretary (Joint Secy in 1962) gives orders to the military and the military carries out the orders. No joint planning was done when Govt of India decided to send IPKF to Sri Lanka in 1987. Lt Col VS Ramana Reddy expressed that IAS lobby will never accept anyone to encroach into their turf i.e. Min of Def. The Armed Forces are kept at an Arms Length with politicians being fed on military coup phobia.
Decision of the Core Committee: The Core Committee applauded the bold action taken by the Hon’ble PM.
Item No 3: Decline in TSEWA Activities. The General Secretary lamented that activities in TSEWA has come to a standstill. There is not much of progress in our membership drive. He requested the Core Committee to give it more thought and come up with out of box solutions to give a big push to the growth of TSEWA.
Decision of the Core Committee: The Presidents of TSEWA at all levels to do their bit to show TSEWA in good light so that more ESMs and family pensioners join TSEWA.
Item No 4: Joint Secretary, NCESMO. The General Secretary appreciated the efforts put in by Col N Sitaramaiah in the formation of Andhra Pradesh State Federation of ESMO. He suggested President, TSEWA being Vice – President NCESMO to take up a case with Brig Kartar Singh (Retd), President NCESMO to appoint Col N Sitaramaiah as Joint Secretary, NCESMO to help President and Vice – President, NCESMO and carry out expansion of NCESMO by getting more ESM Associations under its umbrella.
Decision of the Core Committee: Core Committee directed President, TSEWA to take up this case with Brig Kartar Singh, President, NCESMO to appoint Col N Sitaramaiah as Joint Secretary, NCESMO.
Points from Maj B Bikshapathy
Item No 5: Growth of TSEWA.He suggested that if we can go to Directorate of Sainik Welfare, CSD canteens, banks and ECHS polyclinics and get the details of ESMs and family pensioners then we can contact them to resolve their grievances. This way TSEWA can increase its foot print.
Lt Col G Parvathesam (Retd) Treasurer explained his experience of trying to reach out to ESMs and family pensioners in his home district of Srikakulam. In spite of giving advance notice of his arriving in Srikakulam to help the ESMs and family pensioners none turned up.
Decision of the Core Committee: The Core Committee felt that whatever the office bearers of TSEWA are doing is satisfactory. It is hoped that once TSEWA wins a few legal cases, then many will join TSEWA.
Item No 6: Sanction of Pension to Officers with Pre – Commissioned Service from next date of Retirement. He informed that about 80 former SL Officers, SCOs and RCOs are keen to join a legal case to get pension for total qualifying service i.e. QS of Pre – Commission service as OR / JCO and Commissioned service as an Officer. He explained he put in 15 years of service as OR and 20 years as commissioned officer. On his retirement he was fixed pension only for commissioned service where as he should have been fixed pension for his total qualifying service of 35 years.
Decision of the Core Committee: The Core Committee recommended Maj B Bhikshapathy to discuss this issue with Lt Col N Ravi Chaudhury, legal practioner in AFT Chennai and Circuit bench Secunderabaad and obtain his opinion on legal viability of the case.
Points from the President
Item No 7: Col Ajit Singh Rana, President North Zone. He informed that Col Ajit Singh Rana, President, North Zone, Haryana and Delhi NCR telephonically informed the President that a philanthropic organization in Delhi knowing what TSEWA is doing has approached him to distribute financial assistance to children of martyred soldiers through TSEWA with funds from the organization. Col Ajit Singh Rana is likely to meet them in the next week.
Decision of the Core Committee: The Core Committee applauded self-less service rendered by Col Ajit Singh Rana in organizing blood donation camp in Pataudi in Haryana on 30 Jul 2019 and in getting TSEWA noticed by many organizations interested to help out martyred soldiers.
Item No: 8: Appointment of President, TSEWA, Kerala. The President informed that Lt Col N Babu Pappachan, President, TSEWA, Kerala requested that due to his poor health and that of his wife, he is unable to carry out his duties. The President has requested Brig Suresh Nair (Retd) who is already functioning as President, TSEWA in absence of Lt Col Babu Pappachan to be regular president of TSEWA, Kerala. Brig Suresh Nair accepted the request of President and assured his best for the growth of TSEWA in Kerala which has about 3 lakh ESMs and family pensioners.
Decision of the Core Committee: The Core Committee placed on record its gratitude for the excellent work carried out by Lt Col Babu Pappachan in the last four years in Kerala as President, TSEWA, Kerala. The Committee thanked Brig Suresh Nair who attended the NEC meeting on 06 Jul and 4th AGM of TSEWA on 07 Jul 2019 in Dehradun for accepting to be President, TSEWA, Kerala. The Core Committee assured all support to Brig Suresh Nair in all his activities for growth of TSEWA.
Item No 9: Non Practicing Allowance (NPA) to Medicos in 7th CPC. It is seen that Govt of India, Min of Def vide their letter No:4(10)/2017 /D (Med) dated 28th September, 2017 fixed NPA @ 20% to Pre – 2016 Officers from AMC, AD Corps and RVC. They put a ceiling of NPA in that matrix pay, MSP and NPA should not to exceed Rs 2.37,500 pm. The NPA is to be effective only from 01 Jul 2017. The Min of Def having lost case of MACP to be effective from 01 Jan 2006 to commence with the 6th CPC for all benefits, yet it persists with its wrong policy of giving NPA not from commencement of 7th CPC i.e. 01 Jan 2016 but only from 01 Jul 2017. This is to deny legitimate dues of NPA to medicos. Therefore, the medicos have no option but to knock the doors of AFTs to get their legitimate dues from 01 Jan 2016 citing the MACP case of JCOs / OR. Moreover, it is seen PCDA (Pensions) Allahabad in spite of instructions of Min of Def to pay NPA from Jul 2017 has not implemented it, thereby denying legitimate dues of medicos who continue to draw NPA of 6th CPC even in 2019.
Decision of the Core Committee: Whenever any medical officer of pre – 2016 vintage approaches TSEWA, he be advised to file the case singly in AFT closest to his place of residence.
Item No 10: Govt Of India Loses its Review Case to Grant increment to those who retired on 30 June. The President informed that Hon’ble Madras High Court ruled in favour of a petitioner who retied on 30 Jun to be treated as if he retired on 01 Jul and pay him benefit of one increment. Aggrieved by the ibid judgment, the Govt of India filed a review petition in Hon’ble Supreme Court to quash the judgment of Hon’ble Madras High Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in their judgment in case no : RP (Civil) 1731/2019 dismissed the prayer of Govt of India who opposed granting one increment to those retired on 30 Jun on the ground that they did not retire on 01 Jul when increment is granted. The service rendered by the employee from Jul of last year to 30 Jun of this year is not given any credit which is a totally unfair and un-ethical practice of the Govt of India. The Hon’ble Madras High Court felt whether one retires on 30 Jun or 01 Jul the employee has put in one year service and hence he is eligible for grant of one increment. Even in the Armed Forces many soldiers retire on 30 Jun. They are very much entitled for grant of one increment and thereby their pension also goes up by 50% of their increment.
Decision of the Core Committee: The Committee directed that if anyone who retired on 30 Jun approaches TSEWA, they be advised to approach Min of Def to grant them one increment and hike their pension by 50% of increment.
There being no more points from any of the members, the President declared the meeting as closed.
Brig CS Vidyasagar
President, TSEWA