NFFU : THE ARMY AND THE CAPF
CAPF officers struggled AND WON to make NFFU applicable to them despite the understandable opposition from their senior officers as majority of them belong to IPS, a different cadre. But the armed forces officers are still struggling? What is not understandable is opposition of the senior officers of the Armed Forces who despite belonging to the same cadre, are opposing the applicability of NFFU to the Armed Forces and by doing so they are not only depriving their own junior brother/ sister officers but also shooting themselves in their feet. It is a typical case of lose – lose situation in the management jargon. Let’s analyse.
Recently there was a news item. “ Bihar Cadre IAS officer Vivek Kumar Singh(1989 batch) has been promoted to Chief Secretary rank in the fixed pay scale of Rs. 2.25 lakh per month. Singh is principal secretary. A notification issued by the general administrative department on Friday, stated that his post has been upgraded to the Chief Secretary rank”. (The Times of India Patna Saturday September 07 2019).
This is a very interesting news item. In this an IAS officer of 1989 batch has got promoted in situ on 06 September 2019 to Apex Scale (Rs. 2.25 lakhs per month (Secretary to Government of India).
So the things that strike are, firstly, this is not a case of promotion by NFFU/NFU for obvious reasons, since the same is applicable only to organised Group A Services other than IAS. The second thing that strikes is that, prima facie, the promotion did not take place because a vacancy arose in a post in higher scale viz Apex scale. But the promotion took place because the officer had to be promoted to Apex scale for some reason and the only way to do that was to upgrade the existing post of principal secretary to chief secretary. (I think it is interesting method. In this it appears that the by some divine right an IAS officer has to be promoted to the Apex Scale after a certain number of years of service (30years ?) whether there is vacancy or not. In case there is vacancy fine, otherwise posts in lower scale are upgraded!!! (Modified flexible complementing??)
This news item reminded me of other two news items in the last one month. Under the Heading in “https://www.
Manoj Mukund Naravane appointed next vice chief. PTI New Delhi | Updated on July 22, 2019 Published on July 22, 2019 .
This news item, inter alia, contained the following news :-
“In another key appointment, Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Anil Chauhan will be new General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command.” The General Officer has since assumed the appointment of GOC-in-C on 01 Sep 2019. (Promoted to the rank of Lt Gen on 01 July 2016.) (Source Wikipedia).
The above mentioned Lt Gen is from 1981 batch. But the first to be promoted as Army Commander from 1981 batch, was Lt Gen SS Saini who was promoted to the rank of Lt Gen on 21 May 2016 and later appointed as Army Commander (Apex Scale) on 01 Oct 2018(source Wikipedia).
Since no officer from Army from 1982 batch has yet been appointed as Army Commander (i.e Apex scale), by a very crude method of deduction, the difference between the Army and the IAS to reach the apex scale, is at least 7 to 8 years.
Now let us examine a real situation. The Central Army Commander is due to retire on 30 September 2019. His replacement as per media reports is a Lt Gen, again from the 1981 batch who will get promoted as Army Commander (Apex Scale) on 01 October 2019.
The Central Army Command, as per Wikipedia, is geographically spread over 7 states including Bihar where the ibid IAS officer of 1989 batch has already been promoted as Additional Chief Secretary in the Apex scale. This IAS officer will in probability be the junior most among the many IAS officers in Apex Scale posted in the state of Bihar (The official list shows 11 with one vacant in Apex scale apart from those on central deputation). There are already many IPS officers in the Apex scale (The official list shows 14 including 7 on central deputation) in state of Bihar. All these IAS and IPS officers, many years junior in service, will obviously be Senior to this Army commander about to be promoted. One can safely assume similar would be the case in the other six states of Central Command. There will also be officers from other Civil Services like IRS, Railways etc in Apex scale in these seven states. The number of Civil Services Officers in Apex scale in these seven states who will be senior to the only Army Officer in Apex scale (Army Commander) in the seven states of Central Command is simply mind boggling.
Is it any wonder that all the Civil Services officers who are already in the Apex scale would legitimately consider themselves senior to the Army Commanders and Corps commanders who were commissioned much earlier? Will this not cause conflict in the smooth functioning of the unified functioning of civil services and armed forces in the insurgency/ terrorism affected states?
The second obvious disadvantage would be that army officers promoted to the Apex scale would remain in this scale for only two to three years as against seven to eight years for the IAS before they retire.
It is obvious that the senior officers of the armed forces have been shooting themselves in their feet by opposing the extension of NFFU to the Armed Forces officers as well as by opposing upgradation of more appointments/ranks to the Apex Scale.
If the senior armed forces officers do not want to see themselves in this embarrassing situation, the logical endeavour should be to increase the number of vacancies in the Apex Scale as also lower scales, so much so that the Armed forces officers also get promoted at par with the civil services officers by, inter alia, by not only whole heartedly supporting NFFU but also recommending ‘the same system of promotion (modified flexible complementing) for the Armed forces as the IAS for promotion up to the Apex Pay Scale’.
Win-Win Situation. If the NFU as well as the system of promotion to the Apex Pay scale as applicable to the IAS, were made applicable to the armed forces, then the present lot of officers in the ranks of Brigadiers to Lt Generals would have got the Apex pay scale and all other scales down the line at the same time as the IAS officers and there would be no conflict of ego in the joint operations of any kind be it insurgency or counter terrorism or Natural Disaster relief. The whole system would function as well-oiled efficient machinery for the betterment of the country. This is a win-win situation for everyone especially the country and political leadership. (Why Brigadier in Apex scale? Because even after massive degradation since independence, the Brigadier and Colonel were equated with “ DIG” by the third CPC (Para 48, Chapter 11, Vol – I, 3rd CPC). Many of these posts of “DIGs” have since been renamed (upgraded) as DGP and are in Apex Scale. To amplify the highest post for the IPS in the states was IG of which there were, at the maximum, only two posts till 3rd CPC (Para 50, Chapter 11, Vol – I, 3rd CPC). Now in Bihar, today there are four posts of DGP in Apex scale. Obviously the additional two of these posts would have been that of DIG (upgraded to DGP) at the time of third CPC to which the Brigadiers and Colonels were equated).
It is amply clear that by not looking beyond their noses, some senior Armed forces officers have not only harmed their juniors but are also digging graves for themselves.. It is time that they reinvent themselves and take shelter of the Chetwode motto “the Honour Welfare and the comfort of the men you command come next” and get their subordinates their legitimate dues. If they do this “Your own ease comfort and safety’ including every worldly things like power, wealth and prestige will follow.
FAQ
Question : How can we up grade? Ours is a very steep pyramidical hierarchy. We cannot upgrade the posts without it adversely affecting the command and control structure.
Ans. When we were children we were told the story of a wily fox who invited his friend a simpleton crane for a grand dinner. The only dish, mouthwatering soup, was served in plate. Now this plate suited the fox, which quickly devoured the deliciously prepared soup. But because of its long beak, the crane could do nothing and went home hungry. Next time the Crane invited the fox. This time the soup was served in long neck vessel which was obviously unsuitable for the fox and this time the fox went home hungry. So the solution for the crane was not to try and modify its head and beak to resemble a fox, but to change the vessel in which the soup was served. All these years we have been trying to modify our “ beak to resemble the mouth of fox” by aping the civil services, when the solution was to modify the vessel which is upgrade the pay scales of the army ranks and only selectively upgrade the appointments viz upgrade the pay scale of army ranks whenever there is upgradation of posts in the civil side. (more on this later).
Ques.. How can you have all the ranks from Brigadiers to Lt Generals in the same pay scale? This will adversely affect the command and control. (Interestingly this argument is also used to oppose NFFU.)
Ans. Firstly ‘command and control’ in the armed forces is not dependent upon pay scales like civil services. Our rules of seniority for the purposes of command and control are very well defined. To recollect they are
“If there are two armed forces officers, the command and control is exercised by the person holding the higher rank (irrespective of the fact that the rank is acting, substantive, local or brevet). If both officers are of the same rank, then the date of substantive rank will determine the inter se seniority. In case the date of substantive rank is also the same, then the officer who was higher in merit at the time of commissioning will be senior”. Now in this gamut of seniority and command and control where does the pay scale figure??
In 1983, somewhere in field, when I was in 7th Battalion the Sikh Regt, we had officers with more than twelve years of seniority in the rank of Captain. Where as in the same brigade there was another battalion where officers with thee years of service were Majors. Obviously these field Majors with lesser years of service and getting lesser pay would be senior to the Captains in my battalion for the purpose of command and control. So to say that pay has any effect on command and control would be a patently incorrect.
There is another custom for exercising command and control. In this the command is exercised by the officer belonging to the arm of which the immediate operations primarily relate to. E.g. In patrolling, even if there are senior officers from other arms like Engineers, Armoured Corps or Medical Corps, the command is always exercised by the infantry officer, however junior he may be. I have myself been part of a patrol where the Patrol leader was junior in rank and service to the officers from other arms and services.
Nowhere do we see the pay scale of the officers creating any roadblocks in the smooth conduct of operations.
Secondly in response to the “how can we have so many ranks in one pay scale” , I will remind the people exclaiming this that even today there are two ranks viz Lt and Captain, their pay scales differentiated by alphabets (three if the rank of 2nd Lt was not abolished) in the equivalent of one civilian pay scale viz Junior scale. Conversely if the argument is “one rank one pay scale” then I would like to remind the worthies, that there is one rank with three pay scales in case of Lt Generals viz HAG, HAG+ and Apex scale. Incidentally let us go back to the year 1971 when the Indian Army won the war with highest laurels. At this time the Army Commanders were in the same pay scale as other Lt Generals. They were also lower than the pay scale of Secretaries to the Government of India. None of the aspects related to pay scales adversely affected the smooth conduct of operations.
