The data of the freedom fighters and their eligible dependents drawing Central Samman pension, provided by various Public Sector banks, was scrutinized by Internal Audit Wing of Ministry of Home Affairs. The audit made observations regarding discrepancies observed by them in disbursal of pension to the freedom fighters/dependents. The data indicated a number of identical names of the pensioners/eligible dependents. Since complete details such as father’s/husband’s names, addresses, correct Pension Payment Orders’ numbers in many cases had not been provided by the banks, they were advised to reconcile and update the data after verification. Some of the banks have reported discrepancies in disbursal of pension to the freedom fighters/dependents in a few cases which include disbursal of dependent family pension to the pensioners’ widows who themselves are Central Samman Pensioners, disbursal of full family pension to each of two widows of a deceased freedom fighter, crediting of pension to the accounts of the Central samman pensioners even after their death, and disbursal of State Pension from Central Government account. The concerned banks have been advised to disburse family pension to eligible dependents of Central samman pensioners in accordance with the instructions issued in this regard and to recover excess payments from the concerned pensioners/dependents. The banks who have disbursed State freedom fighters pension from the Central Government account have been advised to refund such payments along with penal interest. The Public Sector banks have taken steps to rectify the discrepancies in disbursal of Central samman pension. As per the information furnished by the banks, approximately Rs.76 lakh has been recovered by them and remitted to Central Government account. RBI and office of C&AG have been advised to conduct comprehensive audit of disbursal of pension by the banks and State Treasuries respectively.

This was stated by Shri R.P.N.Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs in written reply to a question by Shri Uday Singh, Shri Asaduddin Owaisi in the Lok Sabha today.

-PIB

Army:

Women Short Service Commissioned Officers (SSCOs) of all Arms/ services are eligible for substantive promotion to non select ranks of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel on completion of two, six and 13 years of reckonable commissioned service respectively, at par with Men SSCOs. However, old term optee Women SSCOs and Men SSCOs are governed by different terms and conditions. Based on their respective terms and conditions, old term optee Women SSCOs are eligible for substantive rank of Captain on completion of five year of service, while old term optee Men SSCOs are eligible for promotion to quasi-substantive rank of Captain on completion of nine years of service.

Presently, Permanent Commission is applicable to Women officers from Army Education Corps and Judge Advocate General branch. These women officers are being considered for promotion to the select rank, based on the same criteria as applicable to Male officers.

Navy:

In the Indian Navy, officers are eligible for substantive promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander and Captain (Time Scale) after completion of 2 years as Sub Lieutenant, 4 years from the date of promotion of Substantive Lieutenant, 11 years from the date of promotion of Substantive Lieutenant and 26 years of reckonable commissioned service respectively. Promotions on these lines are subject to officers fulfilling other criteria as per extant rules. This policy is equally applicable to both men and women officers.

Air Force:

In the Air Force, officers are eligible for substantive promotion to the rank of Flt. Lieutenant, Squadron Leader, Wing Commander and Group Captain (Time Scale) after completion of 2 years, 6 years, 13 years and 26 years of reckonable commissioned service respectively. Promotions on these lines are subject to officers fulfilling other criteria as per extant rules. This policy is equally applicable to both men and women officers.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri A.K.S. Vijayanin Lok Sabha today.

– PIB

As per the present system, recruitment of Other Ranks (ORs) in Army is carried out through Open Rally System and efforts are made to cover each district of the country by recruitment rallies at least once in a recruitment year. As the location of the recruitment centre has little bearing on the recruitment process, there is no proposal to open new recruitment centres. Further, no new training centres for recruits in Army is envisaged.

Two stray incidents of violence have occurred due to overcrowding in recruitment rallies at Gaya (May, 2012) and Agra (July, 2012) leading to loss of life and property. A number of measures have been taken to obviate recurrence of such incidents. These include close coordination with civil administration for maintenance of law and order and adequate police cover during recruitment rallies; increasing the number of rallies to reduce crowding; development of automation of recruitment activities at rally site; continuous refining of recruitment procedure etc.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to ShriS. Pakkirappa and Shri Kapil Muni Karwariyain Lok Sabha today.