Civil-military rank parity row: MoD withdraws letter

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday passed orders withdrawing an October 2016 letter that allegedly downgraded the status of military officers compared to their civilian counterparts, in an attempt to put the resulting controversy to rest.

The letter on rank equivalence between military officers and the Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHQ CS) triggered a row as it equated a civilian principal director, considered the equivalent of a brigadier, to a two-star general, a director-ranked officer to a brigadier, and a joint director to a colonel. Before the letter was issued, a colonel was equivalent to a director and a lieutenant colonel to a joint director. “The cadre restructuring of AFHQ CS as approved by the Union Cabinet shall be duly implemented,” the defence ministry said in a statement. “Designations to be created in consequence of additional posts sanctioned by the Cabinet will be done in consultation with Service HQs.”

The ministry said local designations assigned to both service and civilian officers in service headquarters and inter-service organisations have been withdrawn.

Describing the Friday order as positive, a senior army officer said on condition of anonymity that “the ministry must ensure no back door entry to create abnormal cadre equivalence in the future.”

The order made it clear that both military and civilian officers will use their “respective cadre designations only”.

The ministry said the position that existed prior to 2016 letter would prevail as far as the channel of reporting of annual performance appraisal report was concerned.

The letter had said that issues regarding rank equation were examined in detail. Signed by a joint secretary, it said the government had referred to administrative orders issued by the army, navy and air force during 2003-08.

But several serving officers said the orders mentioned in the letter were only for internal cadre management and had been misinterpreted to the disadvantage of the armed forces.

The government follows the rank equation while assigning duties, deciding the channel of reporting, and also on deciding when and which officers are to be sent for training. This also determines perks such as stenographic and secretarial assistance.