Touchy topic for armed forces since October 2016 resolved; supremacy of military officers over civilian counterparts to be maintained.
Stepping in to resolve what has been a touchy topic for the armed forces, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman has ordered the withdrawal of a controversial order that seemed to downgrade the ranks of military officers as compared to their civilian counterparts.
In fresh directions issued Thursday, the minister has maintained the supremacy of military officers over civilian counterparts in the armed forces headquarters by officially withdrawing an October 2016 order that had led to an uproar.
The contention of the armed forces was that the government was systematically downgrading the status of its officers by equating say, a principal director in the ministry to a major-general. Prior to the 2016 order, a principal director would be equated with the lower rank of brigadier.
Along with the 2016 order, Sitharaman has withdrawn all local designations that were assigned to civilian and service officers at the service headquarters. This move will take care of the biggest objections of the armed forces that civilians who were junior earlier had been suddenly elevated in rank.
Restoring a pre-2016 order of precedence and reporting, the minister has ordered that restructuring of the civilian cadre will be carried out at a later stage as approved by the Union Cabinet.
The rank parity issue was impacting work at service headquarters ever since the 2016 letter, with the armed forces refusing to accept senior appointments of civilian officers. Several letters of such appointments — to ranks say of a principal director or joint director — were disregarded by the forces, impeding normal work flow.
An attempt to create posts to the level of additional director general in five wings of the armed forces was also shot down. In her orders, Sitharaman has specified that creation of any new posts would be done only in consultation with service headquarters.
Earlier, the ministry had appointed a three-member committee headed by an additional secretary to study the issue and recommend solutions.