1. AFT 5 : Getting pension of Sepoy to wives of deceased Ex-Servicemen of rank of Sepoy to Havildar with consequent arrears from Jan 2006 onwards. Case under prep for  91 applicants in HO TSEWA.
List Of applicants.

2. AFT 7 :  Special Family Pension to Single ladies who husbands died in service  Single ladies of soldiers who held rank of Sepoy to Lt Gen are eligible to apply.
List of applicants.   aft-7

– Single ladies are given ordinary family pension if their husbands died in military service and death is considered not attributable nor aggravated by military service. Such conditions are soldiers dying in sleep, dying in accidents outside unit lines, died while on casual leave, died due to heart attack outside unit lines, died due to brain haemorrhage etc. The ordinary family pension is 30% of last pay drawn of her husband. This Ordinary Family Pension (OFP) is very small and single ladies are unable to bring up their children with such meagre pension.

– The Hon’ble Supreme Court in 2013 gave a land mark judgment which says if a soldier at the time of recruitment is found medically fit and there after anything happening by which he becomes a disabled soldier such soldiers are to be given benefit of attributable to military service.

– TSEWA is of the opinion if soldiers died in military service such wives are therefore entitled for Special Family Pension as death is considered attributable to military service. Then such ladies will get Special Family Pension (SPF) which is double than Ordinary Family Pension (OFP). i.e. 60% of Last pay drawn. Since this judgment came in end of 2013, arrears may be given generally three years from date of filing of legal case. The approximate gain from Jan 2014 to Jun 2016 for such ladies of various ranks is given in MS Excel work sheet. Summary is given below:-

–  Any such single ladies whose husbands died in military service can come to TSEWA to jointly file a case in Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Delhi. They need not appear before AFT and all actions from filing the case till judgment is given will be taken up by TSEWA. The legal fees is as under:-

(a)       Wives of Officers who died in military service           –           Rs 3,000 each

(b)       Wives of JCOs and OR who died in military service   –           Rs 1,000 each

For further details they can contact: Lt Col G Parvathesam, Treasurer, TSEWA, 9490941822.

All India Co-Ordinator: Lt Col M P S Bhatia, B-25, Sector-47,Noida -201303, Mob No: 9810512418; e-mail id : mpsbhatia@gmail.com

3. AFT – 15 : ASSURED CAREER PROGRESSION SCHEME (ACP), to all pre – 2006 Sepoys to Havildars of ACP. Wives of deceased Sepoys to Havildars are also eligible

–  The 6^th CPC recommended to the Government to overcome acute stagnation in lower ranks of Central Govt employees to sanction Assured Career Progression. Government of India, Ministry of Defence approved ACP for Armed Forces personnel and the same are covered in SAI 1/S/2008.  Post – 2006 Serving Soldiers are entitled for three promotions after every eight years of service if they are not promoted for lack of vacancies.

–  Sepoy gets pay promotion after 8, 16, 24 years of service if he is not promoted to next rank. That means he gets pay of Naik after 8 years’ service and pay of Havildar after 16 years’ service but will perform duties of Sepoy only. Similarly if a Naik is not promoted to Havildar after 16 years’service, he will get pay of Havildar but will perform duties of Naik. Similarly if a Havildar does not get promotion as Nb Sub, he will get pay of Nb Sub after 24 years’ of service.  They will on retirement draw pension of higher ranks. This is applicable only to post – 2006 pensioners. Now all post – 2006 Sepoys get pension of Havildar. But this benefit is not given to pre – 2006 pensioners where in a Sepoy continues to get pension of Sepoy and his widow on his death will get only pension of Sepoy at reduced rates i.e. 60% of Sepoy’s pension.

– TSEWA will file a case in AFT Delhi to get benefit of ACP to all pre – 2006 Sepoys to Havidlars and wives of deceased soldiers of the three ranks. The difference is pension or loss they are suffering since Jan 2006 is summarised. Detailed calculations are given in MS Excel 2013 work sheet. These calculations are for Sepoy of Group Y with 15 years’ service, Naik of Group Y with 20 years’ service and Havildar of Group Y with 24 years’ service.

– Loss from January 2006 to June 2016. By not getting benefit of ACP the loss for various pre – 2006 Sepoys to Havildars is given below. Detailed calculations are given in MS Excel 2013 version.

– Sepoy      –           Rs 55,635

– Naik         –           Rs 45,408

–  Havildar    –           Rs 4,19,624

– Legal fees for the case  is:-

(a)       Havidar & Naik          –           Rs 2500

(b)       Sepoy                      –          Rs 2000

©       Family Pensioners   –          Rs 1,000

– Beneficiaries. All surviving pre – 2006 Sepoys to Havildars and wives of such deceased Ex-Servicemen

All India Coordinator: Col Ashok Leekha, G-16,Ridgewood Estate,DLF-4,GURUGRAM -122009. ( Gurgaon)

Mob No: 9958499996; 9958499307; 0124-4011643; e-mail id: leekhaashok@gmail.com

4. AFT 16 : 10 MONTH RULE IN LAST RANK TO GET FULL PENSION.Wives of deceased soldiers are also eligible.

– All pre – 2006 retirees could get pension in the last rank provided they put in 10 months’ service in the last rank. A number of cases have come to our notice where in many Ex-Servicemen (ESM) have retired before they could hold their rank for 10 months. This is mostly in IAF where in a Sergeant (Havildar) having been promoted as JWO (Nb Sub) had to retire before completing 10 months in the last rank of JWO. So he is treated as Sergeant and is paid pension of Sgt. But this rule has been abolished for post – 2006 pensioners.

– Many such affected veterans have approached TSEWA to get them justice. Their simple argument is : if a rule is not applicable to Post – 2006 retirees why should it be applied to Pre – 2006 pensioners. Brig SKS Rana, VSM our single point contact on legal matters and President of North & West Zones, TSEWA consulted our advocate in AFT Delhi Brig AK Srivastava, VSM on the feasibility of filing the case in AFT Delhi. On receiving green signal, TSEWA decided to approach AFT, Delhi to get justice to such NCOs. May be few officers also are affected.

– There are a number of judgments of hon’ble Supreme Court in DS Nakara Vs Union of India, 1986, Maj Gen SPS Vains Vs Union of India, 2008 and MO Inasu Vs Union of India 2015 which support our argument i.e. benefit given to Post – 2006 military pensioners are to be given to Pre – 2006 pensioners. TSEWA is very confident of winning the case and getting large amount of arrears from January 2006 from when pre – 2006 pensioners have been denied this benefit while conferring the same to Post – 2006 pensioners.

-The financial benefit when TSEWA wins the case for a Sergeant of 15 years’ service and of Group Y, who could not hold the rank of JWO from Jan 2006 to Dec 2015 is Rs 2,55,748. Detailed calculations made in MS Excel 2013 version is attached. . Wives of deceased soldiers are also eligible to join this case. The legal fees is only Rs 5,000 for Officers, Rs 3,000 for JCOs, Rs 2,500 for NCOs and wives of deceased officers is Rs 3,000 and wives of deceased JCOs and OR is Rs 1,000.

All India Coordinator: Maj Gen CD Sawant, Mob No: 9632309994, 9422620358 e-mail id:cdsawant2003@yahoo.co.in

5. AFT 17 : Pension of Sepoys to Reservists incl  Wives of Deceased Reservists are also eligible

–  The British Government used Indian soldiers in World War II and on completion of war in 1945, most of them were sent out without any pension on the grounds that Armed Forces are de-mobilised and they are surplus to the units. The same policy was followed by Govt of India from Aug 1947 to 1970s. They were enrolled as per terms of engagement which was 9 years of colour service and 6 years of reserve service.

– There are many soldiers who were thrown out after using them for 9 years and recalling them whenever their services were required. After 9 years they were sent out on the plea that their colour service is over and asked them to report to units when their services were required. Such soldiers were known as reservists. Those who could complete with 9 years of colour service and one year of reserve service in bits and pieces were granted reservist pension which is not same as that of Sepoy. Reservists were not given any arrears in OROP. Many reservists who could not complete 10 years’ service were only given gratuity and no pension is sanctioned. They do not get benefit of ECHS as they are not pensioners. Most of these reservists are in their 70s and 80s and are living in penury. Many such Reservists fought in 1962 Sino-Indian war, 1965 Indo – Pak war and 1971 Indo – Pak war

– TSEWA will file a case in AFT Delhi on the ground of Equity and Principle of Natural justice demanding all reservists are to be granted pension of Sepoy whether they served for 15 years or not. This is on humanitarian grounds. When some of the Central Govt ministries pay pension to employees on completion of 10 years’ service why cannot these Reservists be given pension of Sepoy to lead dignified life at fag end of their lives.

– TSEWA does not charge any legal fees for Reservists. Our advocate also waived off legal fees to argue our case in AFT Delhi. TSEWA will bear all administrative charges on travel of our advocate from his office to AFT, Delhi, cost of stationery, photo stating of legal documents, court fees etc from its own limited resources

– BeneficiarIes. All those Reservists who are not drawing any pension or drawing Reservist pension can join in this legal case. No legal fees for Widows of deceased Reservists

All India Co-Ordinator: Wg Cdr Harshavardhan ,Flat No A -1, Gabriel Towers,No 11, Second Main Road,Shenoy Nagar West, Chennai – 600 030,9962127111; e-mail id: harshavardhan.subramanian@gmail.com

6. AFT – 18 : Higher pension to Majs in OROP compared to Majs of EC/SS commission who draw higher pension with just 14 years commissioned service.