General Approach to the Pay Matrices: Civil and Defence

General Approach to the Pay Matrices: Civil and Defence

Pay levels have been set out in a pay matrix, separately for civilian and defence forces personnel. The Commission has evolved a fresh approach by merging the grade pay and pay bands into distinct pay levels. The approach regarding the pay levels and pay matrix has been explained in Chapter 5.1. Some of the major points in the pay matrix which have a common bearing on civilian and defence forces personnel, are highlighted below. Pay Bands and Grade Pay: Pay Bands and Grade Pays have been dispensed with and the new functional levels have been arrived at by merging the Grade Pay in the Pay Band. All the existing levels have been subsumed in the new structure.

Entry Pay: The entry pay for various ranks of defence forces personnel, other than MNS Offices, has been arrived at on the same premise, as has been done in the case of civilian. As an illustration, entry pay for a Captain has been arrived at as follows:

Entry pay in existing pay band + (Residency Period for promotion to Captain from Lieutenant x annual increment) + grade pay of the rank of Captain = ₹15,600 + (2 x ₹630) + ₹6,100 = ₹22,960.An exception to this approach has been made in the case of Brigadiers/equivalents where pay for the rank has been arrived at as per the fitment table notified by the Ministry of Defence through its Special Army Instructions of October 2008.

Fitment: The starting point of a Sepoy (and equivalent), the entry level personnel in the defence forces, has been fixed in the Defence Pay Matrix at ₹21,700. The starting point in the existing pay structure is ₹8,460 for a Sepoy/equivalent. The fitment in the new matrix is essentially a multiple factor of 2.57. This multiple is the ratio of the new minimum pay arrived at by the Commission (₹18,000) and the existing minimum pay (₹7,000). The fitment factor is being applied uniformly to all employees. It includes a factor of 2.25 to account for DA neutralisation, assuming that the rate of Dearness Allowance would be 125 percent at the time of implementation of the new pay as on 01.01.2016. The actual raise/fitment being Report of the Seventh CPC 87 Index recommended by the Commission is 14.29 percent. An identical fitment of 2.57 has also been applied to the existing rates of Military Service Pay (MSP), applicable to defence forces personnel only.

Rationalisation: An ‘index of rationalisation’ has been applied while making enhancement of levels from Pay Band 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 onwards on the premise that role, responsibility and accountability increases at each step in the hierarchy. At the existing PB-1, this index is 2.57, increasing to 2.62 for personnel in PB-2 and further to 2.67 from PB-3.

Recognising the significantly higher degree of responsibility and accountability at levels corresponding to Senior Administrative Grade, the entry pay is recommended for enhancement by a multiple of 2.72. The same multiple is also being applied at the HAG and HAG+ levels.

At the apex level the index applied is 2.81 and for the Service Chiefs/Cabinet Secretary the index has been fixed at 2.78. As noted in Chapter 5.1, dealing with the Civilian pay matrix, marked increase was accorded to directors in the GP 8700 at the stage of implementation of the VI CPC Report.

Accordingly in the matrix the rationalisation index applied at this level has been fixed at 2.57, lower than the index of 2.67 applied to existing PB-3 officers. A similar formulation has necessarily to be applied to the defence pay matrix since the Lieutenant Colonels also received a marked increase in their pay level, post VI CPC recommendations. Since the defence services have an additional level in the existing PB-4 and there is a common pay level for SAG level officers in Defence and Civil, the Commission has applied the rationalisation index of 2.57 also to the officers in the rank of Colonel and Brigadier and their equivalent.

MACP: The Commission is not recommending an increase in the number of MACPs.For defence forces personnel this will continue to be administered at 8, 16 and 24 years as before. In the new pay matrix defence forces personnel will move to the immediate next pay level in the hierarchy. Fixation of pay will follow the same principle as that for a regular promotion in the pay matrix.
Equivalence in Pay Levels for Certain Levels: The starting pay level for officers at Group `A’ entry level is identical at ₹56,100 in the case of both civilian and defence service officers. Similarly the pay of the Major General and Joint Secretary and equivalent officers and those above [viz., Lieutenant General (in HAG, HAG+, Apex) and Chief of each defence service] has been kept identical with their civilian counterparts. Identical pay levels has been devised for JCO/ORs and their civilian counterparts corresponding to the existing pay bands and grade pay.

Defence Pay Matrix: Some Distinct Aspects

For defence forces personnel, there are two separate matrices, one for the Service Officers and JCO/ORs and another for the Military Nursing Officers. The existing ranks among Officers and JCO/ORs in the Defence Forces personnel has been kept in view while devising the matrix. There are a number of common strands in the Civil and Defence Pay Matrices, indeed the principles and philosophy on which they are based are identical. In the case of the pay matrix for Military Nursing Officers (MNS), the Commission has adopted an approach  Report of the Seventh CPC 88 Index that blends elements of the principles and philosophy adopted in devising the pay matrices with the existing uniqueness in the pay structure of MNS officers. Some of the unique elements that merit mention in the defence Pay Matrix have been outlined below:

Commencement of Matrix: The commencement of the Defence Pay Matrix for combatants corresponds to the existing GP 2000, which is the induction level for Sepoys and equivalent.

More Compact: The Pay Matrix designed for the defence forces personnel is more compact than the civil pay matrix keeping in view the number of levels, age and retirement profile of the service personnel. For example, the term of engagement of various ranks of JCOs/ORs are fixed and of shorter duration. Service Officers on the other hand are given time scale promotion upto the rank of Colonel and Equivalent and will therefore move, from one pay level to another, in accordance with the stipulated time frame.

Pay Levels Unique to Defence Forces Personnel: Pay levels corresponding to the existing GP 3400, GP 5700, GP 6100, GP 6600, GP 7600, GP 8000, GP 8400, GP 8700, GP 8900 and GP 9000 are unique to defence forces personnel. The minimum pay corresponding to each of these pay levels takes into account the normative residency period of the various ranks of officers.

The Commission emphasises that the pay structure designed by it for the defence forces personnel has been done keeping in view (a) some of the aspects in their rank structure unique to them and (b) pay structure is not intended to determine the status of the personnel vis-à-vis their counterparts on the civil side.