Defence Ministry examining status equivalence issue

The government is seriously examining the long-standing issue relating to status equivalence between military officers and their civilian counterparts.
Defence ministry sources said the government was trying to find a "balanced solution" on the controversial issue involving military officers and those from the Armed Forces Headquarters-cadre.
"We are not going to benefit one side at the cost of another," said a source in the ministry.
There has been growing resentment among the military officers who have been insisting that the current status equivalence was flawed and that government must address their concerns.
For example, as per current norms, director-level officers have been put on the same level with the directors of the Armed Forces Headquarters-cadre. The military officials have been insisting that Lt Colonel is equivalent to directors of AFHQ cadre.

Last year, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had set up a high-level committee to look into the issue.
The defence ministry sources also said that government was studying the report of a high-level committee which was appointed by the government to examine the grievances of a section of the ex-servicemen on the One Rank One Pension (OROP).
The committee headed by retired Chief Justice of Patna High Court L Narasimha Reddy was appointed in December 2015 to to look into the anomalies, if any, arising out of implementation of the OROP.