We have objections, put pay hike on hold: 3 service chiefs again

Raising fresh objections to the Sixth Pay panel notification after the Cabinet cleared it on August 14, the three chiefs of the Armed Forces, in an unprecedented move, have written to Defence Minister A K Antony that implementation for officer ranks be “held in abeyance” until their objections are addressed.

Earlier, they had raised two broad objections: higher salary for Personnel Below Officer Ranks (PBORs) and parity with civil servants for officer ranks. While thanking the government for hiking salaries of PBORs, they claim the disparity has only increased between service officers and their civil service counterparts.

Their objections:

•Disparity in Pay Bands: The chiefs claim the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) moved the Director rank into Pay Band 4 but retained Lt. Col and its equivalent in other services in Pay Band 3. Earlier, they claim, a Lt. Col got the same pay as an IAS Director and Rs 800 more than a non-IAS Director. Now he gets Rs 14000 less than an IAS director and Rs 11000 less than a non-IAS director.

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To guard public health in emergency, Centre plans to change the Law

The Health Ministry is working on a Bill which, if all goes to plan, will place public health in times of natural disasters, epidemic outbreaks and acts of terror in the Concurrent List before the end of this year, giving the Centre the power to independently promulgate laws and lay down rules. Public health is so far a state subject, exclusively in the domain of state governments.

The recent outbreak of avian flu in West Bengal has convinced the Ministry that more powers need to be vested with the Centre. “During the avian flu outbreak, Panchayat elections were due in West Bengal. So the state government could not take certain steps which were necessary in those circumstances. The Ministry could not intervene as health is a state subject. Though the Health Ministry had for long felt the need to bring health under its control, this incident highlighted the urgency for such an amendment,” a senior Health Ministry official told The Indian Express.

The Bill being drafted by the Ministry will also lay down guidelines to be followed in case of natural disasters and epidemics. The Public Health Bill 2007 aims “to provide, prevent, control and manage epidemics or dangerous epidemic diseases, acts of bio terrorism and threats there of”.

The draft of the proposed Bill has already been examined by a Parliamentary committee and a Cabinet note has also been circulated. The proposed Bill is likely to be discussed in the forthcoming session of the House.

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