ORDER

Applicant, a retired officer of the Indian Air Force, has invoked the jurisdiction of this Tribunal and feels aggrieved by the action of the respondents in not redressing his grievance in the matter of less pay being drawn by him in comparison to the officers who are junior to him in the same branch i.e. Accounts Branch of the Indian Air Force.

2. The applicant was appointed as a commissioned officer in the Accounts Branch of the Indian Air Force on 14.06.1985. Having earned promotion during the period of 34 years of service-career, the applicant retired from service and, at that point of time, was an Air Vice Marshal.

3. The grievance of the applicant is very simple. According to the applicant, as an Air Vice Marshal, his pay with Military Service Pay (hereinafter referred to as 'MSP') as on 01.07.2017 was Rs. 2,18,200/-, whereas persons junior to him like Air Cmde S. Bhaskaran and Air Cmde N.M. Desai, who were commissioned much after the applicant, and Air Cmde V.N. Srinivas are drawing pay with MSP at Rs. 2,26,800/- or Rs. 2,20,600/-. It is said that these officers, except Air Cmde V.N. Srinivas, are working under the supervision and command of the applicant in the same department but they are drawing higher pay than the applicant. Details of this anomaly has been pleaded in the form of a Chart available at Para 4.9 of the application, which demonstrates the anomaly, as under:

4. Being aggrieved by the disparity in the pay of the applicant and his juniors, applicant preferred a Statutory Complaint on 17.09.2019 and the same having been rejected vide Annexure A-1 on 15.10.2019, the applicant has invoked the jurisdiction of this Tribunal and the reliefs claimed in this application read as under:

“(a) Call for the records based on which the Respondents have fixed pay of the Applicant lower than officers junior to him based on Air Force Officers Pay Rules 2017 issued by the Respondents after coming into effect of the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission and thereafter refusing to entertain the Statutory Complaint dated 17.09.2019 filed by the Applicant vide their orders dated 15.10.2019 and thereafter quash the said impugned order dated 15.10.2019.

(b) Direct the Respondents to step up the pay of the Applicant from the retrospective date of 01 Jul 2017 as has been granted to his juniors who are getting more pay than him by invoking the instruction of more beneficial clause or otherwise in the light of the judgments referred above and accordingly grant him all such consequential benefits including arrears on such fixation of pay with the penal interest @ 18%. Further his pay may be stepped up again if any of his junior in a subsequent time frame draws more pay than the Applicant and non effective benefits may also be re-worked and benefit may be passed to the Applicant automatically.

(c) Pass any other order/orders as deemed appropriate by this Hon'ble Tribunal in the facts and circumstances of the present case."

5. Shri Ankur Chhibber, learned counsel appearing for the applicant, took us through the facts in detail and argued that the applicant was promoted to the rank of Air Vice Marshal on 01.07.2016 and, at that point of time, his pay was fixed at Rs. 2,11,800/-. There is no MSP for Air Vice Marshal and equivalents. However, MSP is subsumed into the basic pay for officers having the rank of 2 Star and above. This pay i.e. MSP was granted to the Defence Service personnel as a separate element of pay upto the rank of Air Commodore and same is added in the pay for fixation of pay on promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal. Learn