Ministerial committee to resolve pay anomalies of armed forces shortly
New Delhi, Oct 13: A ministerial committee led by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, set up to look into the armed forces'' grievance about pay anomalies, is likely to sort out the matter soon.
Mukherjee, who heads the three-member committee, said on Monday that he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony.
“Shortly, I am going to discuss with the Finance Minister P Chidambaram,” he told reporters here when asked about the issue.
Without giving details of his discussions with the Prime Minister, Mukherjee merely said: “I do hope we will be able to sort out the issue shortly.”
The Prime Minister set up the committee, which also includes Antony and Chidambaram, on September 25 in the wake of deep resentment in the armed forces, who complained that there were “anomalies” in the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations and that it had lowered the status of their officers.
After the government notification was issued on August 29, the issues of anomalies in the pay for officers was first raised by Air Chief Fali Homi Major in his letter in his capacity as acting Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC).
Chiefs of Navy and Army too have been voicing their resentment.
Antony has strongly favoured resolution of core issues raised by the three services chiefs in their representation to the government. (ANI)