Change is essence of life. It is just as well that a Committee was set up by the Defence Minister to look at ‘grievance redressal, pension related matters and service-related litigation’ for the country’s Armed Forces. The reports appearing in the media indicate that the Committee has made far reaching recommendations, especially related to the Indian Military Judicial System.
It is surprising that the said Committee consisted of all retired officers and there was no serving officer as its member. After all, it is the serving who have the responsibility to run the military machine. The military judicial system is just one of the pillars of the military administration conducted by Commanders and the staff. The wearer knows best where the shoe pinches. Now that the Committee has submitted its report, we hope that the Minister would consult the Service Chiefs before proceeding with implementation of the report and not pass it on to the Committee of Secretaries.
As regards the litigation, the MoD needs to look inwards. It is their lackadaisical attitude which compels the uninformed fraternity (serving and retired) to resort to most of the litigation. The mess about the pensions created since 1973 is a case in point. Having disturbed a well-established principle, now the Government does not know how to fix it. We hope the same will not happen with the Military Judicial System !
Link to the relevant article is: http://www.outlookindia.com/article/a-just-wind-is-blowing/296166
@ Maj Gen PJS Sandhu (Retd) is the Deputy Director & Editor at USI.
Disclaimer: The Views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of USI.