GRANT OF SAME PAY BAND, GRADE PAY AND MILITARY SERVICE PAY TO MNS CADRE OFFICERS AS FOR OTHER SERVICE CADRE OFFICERS Armed Forces Proposals and 6th CPC Recommendations 1. The 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC) had recommended (Para 2.3.20, Page No. 79 of 6th CPC Report): The Commission, however, is of the view that no differential in salary of officers belonging to the Services or MNS is justified and that the pay band and grade pay of similarly designated posts in Service Officers cadre and MNS cadre should be same. This was in line with the Proposals made by the Armed Forces to successive pay commissions:(a) The Armed Forces had proposed to 4th Pay Commissioned to grant same pay scales to MNS as for other Service Officers (Para 147.39, Page No. 1913 of 5th CPC Report). (b) The Armed Forces have made the following proposals to 5th CPC with regard to pay of MNS Officers (Para 147.40, Page No. 1913-1914 of 5th CPC): (i) There should be two integrated pay scales one upto rank of Col. and other from Brig to Maj. Gen. (ii) The start of scale of Lt. to Col. should be one increment below the start of general list cadre. (iii) year B.Sc. Nursing entrants to MNS cadre should continue to have one ante-date seniority over Diploma entrants.

(iv) To compensate for merit and responsibility of higher ranks, rank pay should be introduced. 2. The sub para 1(a) above leaves no manner of doubt that the Armed Forces wanted the same pay scales to MNS as for other Service Officers during 4th CPC. However, a slightly lower scale was recommended by the 4th CPC and the same accepted by the Government. From sub para (b) above it is clear that during the 5th CPC the Armed Forces wanted the MNS Officers of Brig and Maj Gen rank to get the same pay scales as for other Service Officers, and also wanted to introduce rank pay for MNS Cadre Officers like the Service Officers cadre. The 5th CPC had Recommended Group A Civilian starting scale to MNS Cadre (slightly lower than Service Cadre Officers), and the same was accepted by the Government. Whereas, the 6th CPC had recommended same pay band and grade pay of similarly designated posts in Service Officers cadre and MNS cadre, there by accepting the Armed Forces own demand regarding MNS Cadre Officers pay scales to previous Pay Commissions.

COAS Objections on Selective Upgradation

3. However, after the submission of 6th CPC Recommendations, the Chief O Army Staff (COAS) as an afterthought had vide letter no. C/7021/VI-PCC (Army) dated 20 Jun 08 written to the Cabinet Secretary that, selective upgradation of Basic Pay, Grade Pay and hence the status of Nurses only in the Armed Forces to equate them with Doctors will seriously impact on the functional relationship and command and control in the Military Hospitals, which would adversely affect patient care in the long run. Hence, there is a need of reconsidering those aspects and keeping the Pay and Grade Pay of MNS officers distinct from the Service Officers. The COAS letter was a quick turnaround from the Armed Forces established stand of demanding same pay scales to MNS Officers as for other Service Officers made to the previous pay commissions. The 6th CPC observed that the starting pay scales of MNS cadre is equal to group A civilian starting pay scales, and is only slightly lower than the pay scales other service officers. The sight upgradation recommended by the 6th CPC was in line with the Armed Forces own pending demands. Opposing the upgradation of MNS cadre fearing an impact on the patient care is not logical while considering the following facts:(a) As per Para 733 (b) of Defence Service Regulations, Regulations for the Army [DSR (Army)], women officers serving in the Army Medical Corps and officers in the Military Nursing Service will rank equally with male officers of the same titular rank. This was upheld by the AFT in Maj Gen Usha Sikdar vs Union of India & others. As the Officers of MNS are Commissioned Officers of Armed Forces, the relative seniority between MNS cadre and other cadre officers were to be determined by the date of substantive rank and or date of commission. (b) The COAS letter was designed to lower the established status of MNS cadre by taking advantage of Para 2.3.13 of 6th CPC, that is "status of the Defence Forces officers would be determined by the grade pay attached to their post as is the case with civilians". However, in Para 1(xi), page 21 of Ministry of Defence Resolution (Gazette of India, dated 30 Aug 08), the Government further amplified this rule, and notified it as "Grade pay to determine seniority of posts only within a cadres hierarchy and not between various cadres." As the Army Doctors and Nurses belong to different cadres (AMC and MNS respectively), the status granted to MNS Officers vide Para 733 (b) of DSR (Army), still holds post 6th CPC implementation. (c) As per Part-B Section-II Para XII -1, page no. 45 (Gazette of India Extraordinary, Part- II, Section-3, Sub-section (i) dated 29 August 2008), the Government in line with the 6th CPC recommendations has placed the Staff

Nurse (Civilian equivalent of Lieutenant in MNS) on PB - 2 with grade pay of Rs 4600. Also in the same gazette the posts carrying minimum qualification of either degree in Engineering or a Degree in Law (Part-B, Section-I, sub-para (iii), page no. 44) has been placed at par with Staff Nurse on PB-2 with grade pay Rs 4600. In the Armed Forces every post for which minimum qualification of either degree in Engineering or a Degree in Law is a post occupied by a commissioned officer placed on PB-3 with grade pay Rs 5400. The commissioned officers of engineering branch additionally gets Technical Pay Rs 5000 per month. The 6th CPC doubled the Nursing Allowance to Rs 3200 for Nursing Personnel on civil side (Para 3.3.16, page 195, 6th CPC report). But there are no such allowance exists for the MNS cadre officers. (d) The Doctors in the Armed Forces also enjoys higher starting pay than their civilian counter parts. Doctors who join services after internship are inducted as Captain with grade pay of Rs 6100 and are given entry pay that is 10% higher than the minimum on PB-3. Whereas the Civilian counterpart joins as GDMO at grade pay Rs 5400 on PB-3, with no higher entry pay. (e) The posts of Assistant Nursing Superintendent, Deputy Nursing Superintendent, Nursing Superintendent and Chief Nursing Officer are all group A posts on PB-3 with grade pay ranging from Rs 5400 to Rs 7600. As the General Duty Medical Officers starting grade pay Rs 5400, these posts of Nursing Officers were equal to or higher than many Doctors grade pay. However there was no objection from the civil side on these. The reason is that by the time a Nurse reaches such a post a Doctor with similar length of service would have raised much higher in rank and pay. The same is true for the Armed Forces also. (f) The direct entry Doctors joins service as Captain, further promotions are: Major 4 years, Lt Col 11 years, Col 16 (select) years. Whereas for the Nurses it is Lt on joining, Captain 5 years, Major 12 years, Lt Col 20 years and Col 30 years. The majority of Nurses employed in the clinical field is Majors and below, as the Lt Cols may be either in administrative or Clinical posts. The Col of MNS is purely an administrative post occupying the Principal Matron of the Hospital. The majority of the Captain and Major ranked Doctors are employed as Regimental Medical Officers (MBBS) in MI Rooms, where no Nurses are posted. Due to the faster promotion available to the Doctors, by the time they become Specialist Doctors, they are Lt Cols or above rank, automatically out ranking the Nurses working in the hospitals. (g) A Doctor in Armed Forces gets a starting pay of Rs 51536/approximately. However a CGHS GDMO gets only approximately Rs 37910/The armed forces doctors gets approximately Rs 13626 more than their civilian counter parts. The difference in total emoluments (excluding HRA) at the starting scale between a Doctor and Nurse in Civil side is approximately Rs 12025, whereas in armed forces it comes to Rs 16996 approximately. It is beyond

doubt that the armed forces Doctors enjoys an edge over their Civilian counter parts on starting pay scales. And also the difference in pay between doctors and nurses in armed forces is much more than the civil side. While comparing the starting pay of Nurses, the MNS Officers draws only approximately Rs 5055 more than their civilian counter parts (after considering Rs 3600 Nursing Allowance for the Civil Nurses). In Civil the ratio between the starting pay of Nurse:Doctors is 1:1.46, whereas in Armed Forces it is 1:1.49. It leaves no doubt that the difference in pay in starting scale between doctors and nurse is more in armed forces than the Civil, which negates beyond doubt the COAS arguments regarding same pay for doctors and nurses. (h) Therefore the COAS contention of selective upgradation of Nurses in armed forces is not justified. The armed forces doctors earns approximately 40% more than their civilian counter parts on their starting pay scales. Whereas the Nurses in armed forces earns only 19.5% more than their civilian counter parts on the starting pay scales. Denying the MNS Officers the raise of few hundreds of rupees as a raise in grade pay (same grade as other service officers as recommended by 6th CPC) on the pretext that it will equate them with the Armed Forces Doctors in pay is not justified. While considering the hardships they endure by their long duty hours, hard area/ militancy infested areas, long isolation from families and their liability to serve in any part of the world like other armed forces personnel they ought to be paid more. (i) However, notwithstanding the Armed Forces own proposals, the 6th CPC recommendations, and the status of MNS Officers under the statutory law and also the edge already enjoyed by the Doctors in Pay and Promotions over the Nurses, the Government had kept the Grade Pay of MNS cadre Officers lower from other Armed Forces Officers of equivalent rank. Granting such lower Grade Pay to MNS cadre Officers than other Service Officers on the recommendation of COAS had resulted only in the financial loss and loss of other privileges of rank like TA/DA, LTC etc. to the former, but made no difference in command and control aspect. Armed Forces Tribunal Order

4. In Maj Gen Mrs. Usha Sikdar Vs. Union of India & Ors (T.A. No. 211/2010) the Honble Principal Bench of AFT held that, she is a regular commissioned officer of the Indian Armed Forces and she is authorised to all entitle ments and benefits which a regular officer entitled under the Army Act, 1950 and rules framed thereunder and regulations issued from time to time. Therefore, we have no hesitation to declare that the petitioner is entitled to be treated as a commissioned officer and as a p art of the regula r fo rce , and sh e is a utho rised to all entitlements which are authorised to the regular recruited army officers of the Indian Army. The AFT further directed the Government to to treat all the commissioned officers of Military Nursing Service as a part of the regular

force of the Indian Armed Forces and extend all entitlements which are commensurate with the rank as equal to commissioned officers of Indian Army to her. It is brought out here that, post 6 th CPC implementation, the entitlements of a rank is based on the Grade Pay attached to the rank.

Status of Commissioned Nursing Officers Abroad

5. The Commissioned Officers of Nursing Services in the United States Army, Navy and Air Force have same status and pay scales while comparing to the Officers from other branches of the Armed Forces. There the Nurses are not discriminated based on their profession. The Nursing Officers belong to US Army Nurse Corps gets to command hospitals and army medical commands. The present Chief of Army Nurse Corps, Maj Gen Patricia D Horoho is the Commander of Western Region Medical Command as well. Similarly Commissioned Officers of Queen Alexandrias Army Nurse Corps also gets to Command Medical Units. Such Countries are apparently not worried about patient care being adversely affected as the Nurses may sometimes out ranks the Doctors in their armed forces. 6. The USA became the first country in 1901, to constitute the Nursing Services as a Corps of its Army and placed all the Nursing Personnel under it. In 1943, the Nursing Services of Imperial Army and allied forces (UK, India/Pakistan, Korea, UAE, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Canada, France, Portugal, Australia, South Africa, etc.) had the same status as 'auxiliary force of army. After the war, all these Countries and many others, except India have formed Army Nurse Corps out of their own elements of Military Nursing Service. In UK though Queen Alexandras Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) was formed in 1949, the male nurses and medical orderlies remained part of Royal Army Medical Corps until 1992, when they were rebadged to QARANC. The proposal to re-designate the MNS in to a Corps of the Army like similar developments in other countries, by bringing it fully under the Army Act, was under consideration by the Ministry of Defence, but it never got implemented. Grant of same rate of MSP to MNS Officers as for other Officers 7. The 6 th CPC in Para 2.3.20 of the report observed that, In line with the other Defence Personnel, Military Service Pay (MSP) also need to be extended in their case. The Commission then recommended that, The rates of MSP would however need to be kept suitably lower keeping in view the fact that MNS officers are not primarily meant for combat duties. Even though the learned members of the Pay Commission had made this observation only with respect to the Women Officers serving in the Military Nursing Service, it is only the half truth. Presently in the Indian armed forces Women Officer are not being selected for the Combat

Duties, they are allowed only in to branch/ corps/ service which are not likely to come in to contact with the enemy (as pleaded by the Government in PC for women officers Para 21, page no. 14 - Delhi HC order dated 12 March 2010)). In the case of whether or not to grant PC for Women Officers in Air Force/ Army the Honble Delhi High Court [Date of decision: 12.03.2010 :- WP (C) No. 1597 of 2003, WP (C) No. 16010 of 2006, WP (C) No.3357 of 2007, WP (C) No.3686 of 2007, WP (C) No.902 8 of 2008, WP (C) No.7669 of 2009, WP (C) No.8492 of 2009, WP (C) No.8495 of 2009 & WP (C) No.9367 of 2009] observed that (Para 56, page no. 32), We have taken note of the fact that Army women officers are placed on a different footing as there was no such direct assurance of grant of PC held out to them. These officers were, however, aware of such a promise held out to the women Air Force officers. The branches in which SSC was granted were also similar, if not, identical. These branches are non-combatant in nature.This Honble Courts observation regarding the nature of duties of the Women Officers in armed forces as a whole is apt and is in the similar lines of the observation made by the 6th Pay Commission regarding Military Nursing Service. 8. In Para 34, page no. 21 of the order the Honble Court noted that, It can, however, hardly be doubted, in our considered view, that such recruitment of women in armed forces has gone through a process of evolution largely dependent on the social norms of the country. In the US, strength of women officers in the military rose from two per cent in 1967 to eleven per cent in 1993. Almost 90 per cent posts have slowly become open to women officers except in the field of Infantry, armour and special operations. The increase in the strength of women officers was also the direct result of the traditional distinctions between combat and non-combat or combat support roles having become blurred with the introduction of deep battlefield and over-the-horizon weaponry as observed by Dr. Jakkie Cilliers, Co-Director, Institute for Defence Policy in an article published in the South African Defence Review Issue No.9, 1993 "Feminism and the Military, Developments in the United States of America". The observation regarding the blurring of distinction between combat and non-combat or combat support roles with the introduction of deep battlefield and over-the-horizon weaponry is note worthy. 9. Regarding grant of PC to Women, the Hon'ble Defence Minister, infact,

gave an assurance in the Parliament that the Ministry would look into aspects of non-combat streams to begin with, (Para 35, page no. 22 of the Honble courtorder). It leaves no doubt that in Indian armed forces women are inducted only in to non-combatant branches/ duties. The Court further observed (Para 44, page no. 45) that, the policy decision was that women personnel should be recruited in certain areas of operation of the Armed Forces which are not in combat and other such services. After considering the observations made by the Honble Court in the said case as mentioned earlier, leaves no manner of doubt whatsoever that not only the women officers serving in the Military Nursing Service but the entire spectrum of women officers irrespective of branch/ corps/ service are recruited only for duties which are primarily no-combatant in nature. Therefore not granting MSP at the rate of Rs 6000 and also not placing the Lt Col ranks in PB-4 only in the case of women

officers serving in Military Nursing Service is not justified. 10. The women officers serving in Military Nursing Service are exposed to the combat environment than any of the other branches where women are recruited. During the WW-II many women officers belong to the MNS had made the supreme sacrifice. 15 of them died on 14 February 1942 (their ship SS. Kuala which was sunk by Japanese bombers at Pom Pong Island in The Indonesian Archipelago) Many of these women lost their lives in the bombing of the ship whilst at anchor, or as they tried to swim to shore through bombs and machine gun fire (further information on these terrible events can be gathered from the websites Children of Far East POWs and also the Malayan Volunteer Group). There were also many Indian Nurses among the 180 nurses, women and children who had died when the vessel SS. Tanjong Pinang on the way to Sumatra from Pom Pong Island which was stopped and sunk by a Japanese submarine. There were only six survivors from the Tanjong Pinang. Many Indian Women who served in the MNS in far-east became Prisoners of Wars (PoWs). They had endured great hardships and untold miseries in Japanese PoWs Camps. 11. The Military Nursing Service officers over the years have consistently exemplified a high degree of initiative, courage, and dedication in service to mankind, the Indian Army and our Nation. The officers of the Military Nursing Service cared for soldiers in their hour of greatest need; whether it was during the five wars, we fought since independence, or through the endless counter insurgency operations or peacekeeping operations and mercy missions we undertook in Sri Lanka, Somalia, Congo, Iran, Afganistan and many other nations. They nursed, they comforted, and they made sure no patient died alone. They selflessly endured countless hours of their patients pain, sorrow, screams, blood, mutilation and at times death. And when it was over, they quietly withdraw to the background. They all paid an emotional price for those selfless services to humanity, though not always physically scarred. The Military Nursing Service officers served with distinction wherever they have been. Some of those brave women paid the ultimate price for their nation as a result of hostile fire. The Army since independence has decorated many nurses for bravery and distinguished service. The nation is eternally grateful for the dedication, courage, and sacrifices made by the women of the Military Nursing Service, but the Army is not. Even now the women officers of Military Nursing are serving in many trouble torn corners of the world from Afghanistan to Somalia, Congo to Kashmir and Indias North East. They are attached to Field Ambulances, and serves at border posts like Thangdar in J&K. More than any other women officers in armed forces other branches, the women of Military Nursing Service are exposed to combat, still they are being denied the privileges which the other women officers who are also recruited for a primarily non-combatant role enjoys.

The Prayer to the Appropriate Authorities

12. In view of the Armed Forces proposals to previous pay commissions, 6 th CPC Recommendations and the order of Honble AFT dated 30 Mar 2010, and also on the observations made by the Honble Delhi High Court (PC for women officers) dated 12 March 2010, the following prayer is being made for your kind consideration:(a) All women officers of MNS may be granted the same Grade Pay, Pay Band and MSP which is entitled to Officers of Army as per SAI/2/S/08. That is to say:(i) Grant of same grade pay to the Officers of MNS (from Capt to Maj Gen) as applicable for other officers of the Army. (ii) Grant of MSP Rs 6000 to all Officers of MNS from Lt to Brig and revised pay fixation for Maj Gen of MNS considering MSP Rs 6000. (iii) Placing the Officers of MNS of the rank of Lt Col on Pay Band -4.

(b) The pensionary benefits of all the retired Officers of MNS may accordingly be revised based on enhanced Grade Pay, Pay band and MSP. (c) The Government may bring the MNS fully under the Army Act, 1950 to fully integrate the Military Nursing Service in the Indian Army. This will ensure better manageability of the women officers serving in MNS as being subject to the full powers of the Army Act,1950 (the entire spectrum offences and punishments as laid down in the act). Bringing the MNS fully under the Army Act will alleviate the concerns of the Army as expressed by the COAS in the mentioned letter dated 20 Jun 2008.