rti for one rank one pension

8/3/2019 Rti for One Rank One Pension

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CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION

Complaint No. CIC/WB/C/2007/00175 dated 20-4-2007Right to Information Act 2005 Section 18

Complainant: Lt. Col. Kartar Singh, Dehradun

Respondent: Min. of Defence (MoD)

Facts

By an application of 13-12-06 Lt. Col. Kartar Singh of Dehradun applied to

the Defence Secretary seeking the following information:

(a) After the Supreme Courts judgment, the issue of one rankone pension was taken up with the then Prime Minister,Indira Gandhi but IAS Cadre opposed it. When under the

similar circumstances, the Courts Directive wasimplemented in respect of their civilian counter part while theMPs and the Judiciary got themselves entitled to the same.Why then the Defence Pensioners were denied their rights,

justice and equality and treated so shabbily? Pleaseintimate the name (s) and designation (s) of the officer (s)who was/ were responsible for the discrimination and one (s)who approved this and their reasons to negate the SupremeCourts Directive and later the 4th and 5th CPCsrecommendations.

(b) Rajiv Gandhi promised one rank one pension in his electionmanifesto but after his victory said there were financialconstraints. Please give the name (s) of the officer (S) whogave this advice and why?

(c) The then President of India addressing the first nonCongress government declared on the floor of theParliament House that his Government shall implement onerank one pension but later nothing materialized. Who wasthe person responsible to over ride the Presidentsdeclaration and why?

(d) Why, after the Supreme Court Directive of Dec 1982, theverdict of the specifically set up Central AdministrativeTribunal in favour of the pre 1973 defence pensionersrecommending the benefits of 1973 measures was neverimplemented? And why later spilt hairs by going to theSupreme Court and not honouring the agreement reachedbetween the advocates of the pensioners (will not insist for


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gratuity) and of the government (not of oppose hike inpension) thereby committing a breach of faith and trust?

(e) Why the recommendations of the 4th and 5th CPCs wereimplemented in respect of civilian pensioners but those

relating to the Defence personnel and Pensioners weremodified to discriminate them? Please give name (S) anddesignation (S) of the officer (S) for this divide and rulepolicy and discrimination between the same class of people.Photo copy of the internal file nothings justifying the denialplease be given.

(f) Why were the recommendation of the high level committeesset up by the government and chaired by Mr. Singh Deo,and Shri Aeun Singh to grant one Rank one Pension werenot implemented? Please name the person and his reasons

to derail the justice. Please give photo copy of the internalfile nothings.

(g) Why the weight age to extend the actual service to 33 yearsas pension able service was fixed arbitrarily as this amountto breach of trust and faith. Please name the person for thisarbitrary decision and his reasons (please give the photocopy of the internal file notings at all the levels.

(h) On what legal ground committees of Group of Ministers wereconstituted later to negate and over ride the Supreme CourtDirective, the 4th and 5th CPCs recommendations and notundo the arbitrary fixation of weight age that was to ensure33 years pensionable service.

(i) Why the recommendations vide (d) and (f) were rejected (notimplemented) but those of at (h) were accepted. Pleasename the advisor (s) in both the cases with detailed reasons.

(j) What is the governments intention to refer to the 6th CPCthe issue of non implementation of Supreme CourtsDirective and the recommendations of the last two CPCsrelated to Defence Services Pensioners? Is it to furtherdelay the due rights and justice to the senior pensioners onthe verge of kicking the bucket so that more may die or is itto seek approval of the arbitrary and discriminatory decisionmaking process of divide and rule.

(k) Why do the politician occupying the seat of power andbureaucrat advisors feel/ think that they can legally reduce,


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redefine and negate Supreme Courts Directives and everything in the Constitution to suit their convenience and ulteriormotives? If not then why this non implementation of theSupreme Court Directive dated 17th December 1982 as wellas the recommendation of the 4th and 5th CPCs in respect of

Defence Services and Pensioners only. (Details of interoffice noting on the files leading to denial of justice please begiven).

(l) Why did the Honble Raksha Mantri misled the Parliamentwhen answering a supplementary to Un Starred questionNo. 206 in December 2004, that there were no anomalies inimplementation of V CPC pension Award for Ex-Servicemen;(Para 3 of his statement) when they are there a plenty inblack and white. Please name the person who wrote thisbrief over looking the ground realities.

(m) Will, those responsible for arbitrariness and discriminatorypolicies ever realize that, if the treatment of those whoserved to protect the national integrity, (giving the best partof their lives) cannot be liberal or constructive and injusticerectified, then, the Defences Forces will be filled with moretime servers than in the past and will stagnate to be a greatwaste of nations treasure in time to come? Indications ofthis unfortunately are already there and very much visibleand disturbing.

(n) Every time the issue of non implementation of the one rankone pension and recommendations of the CPCs is taken up,the response always has been the non existing boggy offinancial constraints. If this (financial constraints) is thehonest truth then will the government please answer whythese very financial constraints were not or are nothindrance or are of no concern and therefore, not applicableto:

(aa) Civilian Pensioners.(ab) MPs and MLAs.(ac) Judiciary.(ad) Granting of pensionary benefits recently to those MPs of by

gone days not entitled to so far.(ae) Recent hike of Rs. 35,000/- in salary/ perks of Delhi MLAs

when the capital suffers lack of proper drainage system,water, electricity and effective law and orders.

(af) MPs, voting for themselves ever increasing salaries,pensions and perks by thousand of rupees so often and now


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DA to RS. 1000/-pd when their food, residence and transportis heavily subsidized/

(ag) Misuse of local area development fund by MPs as recentlyexposed; crores are being wasted there being less ofdevelopment and more of corrupt practices.

(ah) Writing off damaged food grains worth crores of rupeesevery year or so because of poor storage and lack ofeffective supervision and control

(ai) Writing off framers loans and electricity charges worththousand of crores every now and then without eliminatingthe real cause of their problems- grossly reduced fertility ofland due to ever increasing input and over use of expensivechemicals every year.

(aj) Creation of a renewal fund of RS. 500/- crores for the benefitof the labour force of the Public sector Undertakingsincurring recurring losses.

(ak) When crores of rupees of the public money is wasted sooften in the Parliament due to non issues being raised,stoppage of proceedings when the MPs disobey theSpeaker, followed by Frequent walk outs and avoidableadjournment of the House.

(al) When the pension of a lakh of freedom fighters (who are stillsaid to be alive) is increased to over Rs. 10000/- pm when ithas been accepted that more than 40% are fake.

(am) The recent decision to pay Haj subsidies (Rs. 10000/- ph) toadditional 10000 Muslims (total now being 1,10000) everyyear when India is a secular nation and the religion apersonal matter.

(an) Crores being spent on advertisements by the Centre to builtimages of the political leaders.

To this he received a response on 9-3-07 in which his questions were not

answered directly but a general response of principles followed was provided by

Shri Harbans Singh, CPIO who concluded his response with the following

statement:

While Govt. is alive to the need to ensure that justifiable demandsof ex-servicemen are met, liberalization of pensioners benefits isan ongoing process and successive Central Pay Commissionshave adequately addressed it. As a result, there has beensubstantial improvement in the pensioners benefits of ArmedForces pensioners consequent to implementations of therecommendations of the Vth Central pay Commission as acceptedby Government. No discrimination in pension of Armed Forcespersonnel vis--vis civilians is perceived in the process. In fact,


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Defence personnel do have an edge over their civilian counterpartsin so far as pay and pensionary matters are concerned. This isobvious in the grant of weight age and in consideration ofreckonable emoluments which include rank pay in the case ofCommissioned Officers and computation of pension based on

maximum of the pay scale in the servicemen personnel while inservice, are not available to their civilian counterpart like free ration/transport, accommodation etc. There is a separate DirectorateGeneral of Resettlement and there are Sainik Welfare Boards atDistrict, State and Centre levels looking after the welfare andrehabilitation of ex-servicemen, and coverage of ECHS is intendedto ensure comprehensive medical care to soldiers and their familymembers after their retirement for service.

In the meantime Lt. Col. Kartar Singh had submitted a reminder to the

CPIO, Ministry of Defence and after receiving the orders of the CPIO of 9-3-07

has moved an appeal directly with us with the following prayer:

I humbly request and pray suitable action against the CPIO, MoDfor the delay and not providing the required information in the formrequested ,non compliance with RTI Act and for makingirresponsible statements. I further submit that the Ministry ofDefence be directed to provide the required information, involvingthe third parties as necessary at the earliest.

This was followed by what can best be described as a riposte to CPIO

Shri Harbans Singh in letter of 27-4-07 in which he has criticized the manner of

the response and concluded as follows:

An English poet Thomas Jordan once wrote, Our God and Soldierare alike adored; Just at the brink of ruin, not before; The dangerpast, both are alike requited, God is forgotten and the soldierslighted. No wonder there is an acute shortage of man power inthe defence forces. The youth of the country understands thetreatment he shall also get when he retires early in life after givingthe best part of his life to maintain national integrity with littlechance of reemployment to support his often separated family andeducate his children.

The appeal was heard through video-conference on 20-6-2008. Thefollowing are present:

Appellant: (at NIC Studio, Amritsar)Lt. Col. Kartar Singh.Respondents: (at NIC Studio, New Delhi)Shri Harbans Singh, Dir.


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Shri V. K. Sharma, US.

Appellant was asked why he has not taken recourse to Section 19 (1) and

submitted a first appeal, he responded that the attitude of the Ministry of Defence

would be that already provided in the response and he would not get justice,therefore, he has taken recourse of making a direct complaint to us u/s 18, since

he has no faith in the Ministry of Defence.

Shri Harbans Singh CPIO submitted that the application was received

earlier when the office of PIO was in the Resettlement Division. It was received

in the Pension section on 22-12-06 and, as per the receipt, by his predecessor

only on 15-1-07. The response which he has provided on 9-3-07 are only his

comments on the grievance of appellant since he has not found any question

there for which information can be provided as held by him. He clearly went on

to assert categorically that no information sought in the question of Lt. Col. Kartar

Singh is held by the Pension Division of the Ministry of Defence.

DECISION NOTICE:

Having heard the parties and examined the record we find that indeed

each of the questions posed under the heading Information sought and required

are not requests for information but assertion with a wealth of innuendo. Even

where information can be purported to have been sought, this cannot be defined

as information u/s 2 (f) read with Section 2 (j) of the RTI Act and it refers to

seeking the identity of those who in the view of appellant conspired to deny

servicemen their pensions. It can only, therefore, be inferred fro the statement of

respondent Shri Harbans Singh that such information as is sought by Lt. Col.

Kartar Singh is not held by the public authority. What is clear from the

application and the arguments before us is that Lt. Col. Kartar Singh nurses a

deep grievance in the manner in which decisions of the Supreme Court regarding

pre-1986 Defence Services Pensioners Pension have been disposed of.

Whereas, therefore, the request of Lt. Col. Kartar Singh is outside the purview of


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the RTI Act, giving due weight to the grievance held by this very senior officer of

our Armed Forces and with fullest respect for his services to the nation, we have

agreed to refer this matter to the Minister of Defence Shri A.K. Antony for

sympathetic consideration.

On the question of delay in response Shri Harbans Singh has explained

the reasons for the delay as a result of circulation of the application among

different authorities. While this may explain the late response from him

personally, this cannot condone the delay of 55 days which has resulted from

late information being supplied i.e. on 9-3-07 when it became due on 13-1-2007.

Shri Harbans Singh CPIO is, therefore, directed to enquire into the reasons for

this delay, identify the defaulting officers and obtain their explanation and submit

his report to Shri Pankaj K.P. Shreyaskar, Jt. Registrar, Central Information

Commission with his recommendation u/s 20 by 7th July, 2008.

The complaint is thus disposed of. Announced in the hearing.

Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.

(Wajahat Habibullah)Chief Information Commissioner20-6-2008

Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied againstapplication and payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the CPIO ofthis Commission.

(Pankaj K.P. Shreyaskar)Joint Registrar20-6-2008

rti for one rank one pension

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