Is litigation a matter of worry ?

Litigation and Armed Forces : A matter of worry ?

Navdeep Singh

Increase in litigation in the forces, is it worrisome? Is it that the system is being unfair to its personnel?
No, not at all. That a greater number of serving and retired personnel are resorting to legal recourse resulting in judicial intervention is a sign of a healthy democracy where the right to Constitutional remedies is guaranteed to every citizen.
Quantitatively the litigation was bound to increase with the inception of country-wide Benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal. A surge in the number of cases was expected because of several reasons, first being that the feeling itself of the availability of an exclusive body to deal with grievances of present and former service-members was encouragement enough for those to take legal recourse who felt that they had been treated unfairly. Secondly, there was an inherent reluctance, and rightly so, of taking some of the seemingly trivial matters such as minor disputes in pay, allowances and grants, to High Courts, a thing of the past now since the Tribunal now not only has the expertise but also the power to go into the minutiae of such aspects. And thirdly, there was an innate phobia, though unfounded, with respect to the complexity and formality of procedure followed in High Courts which no longer remains true since the procedures followed in Tribunals are much more ‘user-friendly’ if I could use the phrase.
But there is a flip side. And that brings me to the qualitative aspect. The coming into force of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act should not mean that the internal grievances redressal mechanism is further weakened or that everything is put on the AFT by harbouring an attitude that if a person does not get justice, he shall get it from the Tribunal. In fact the in-house system should be so strong that only a minority of grievances reach litigation stage. In certain arenas some of the cases are such which should never have reached litigation stage. Disability pension is one such area where proper application of procedures and regulations by medical boards, record offices and CDA would help in minimising disputes on the subject since the Tribunals in this matter are in fact doing what should have been the duty of the ibid authorities. Also pensionary litigation in the defence services is the highest in the country compared to all other central government organisations and most of it is avoidable. Primary reason being that the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare under the Personnel Ministry on the civil side is one of the most proactive and welfare oriented departments of the Government while just the contrary can be said about the Pension wing of the Ministry of Defence. While the former takes democratic decisions by taking into account a well established consultative process with bodies of pensioners, the latter is a one-man show with a single officer imposing his whims on millions of defence pensioners and their families in a highly undemocratic fashion. While the former places every single letter issued by it on the official website the same day, the latter does not believe in even letting pensioners know of their entitlements with affected people perpetually groping in the dark. Senior officers of the Ministry of Defence and the Services Headquarters unfortunately do not have the expertise of gauging what is right and what is wrong, what is beneficial and what is detrimental. What to talk of poor pensioners, in matters of pension, the defence ministry is now notoriously (in)famous for even misleading Courts by quoting outdated and non-existent rules and regulations, a tendency that has now been deprecated on record by Courts umpteen number of times.
Tersely put, it is not the quantity of cases reaching judicial fora that is worrisome, but the quality. What needs to be curbed is the plethora of forced litigation thrust upon poor veterans simply because that accountant in Allahabad failed to touch the calculator for months together or the clerk in the Records Office refused to open the rule book and comprehend simple rudimentary English.

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Ex-Swiss banker gives secret documents of super rich to WikiLeaks

PTI, Jan 17, 2011, 08.06pm IST
LONDON: Names of 2,000 secret Swiss account holders, including individuals and corporates from Asia, US and Britain, were on Monday handed over by a former Swiss banker to WikiLeaks for being made public.
There was no indication whether any Indian account holder figure in the list since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who received the two discs containing the documents, said that he would make it public in the future.
Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, said the account holders include celebrities, business leaders and lawmakers.
Assange, fighting cases to extradite him to Sweden to face sex charges, appeared alongside Elmer said he will expose attempts by these business leaders, corporations and lawmakers to evade tax payments.
"We will treat this information like all other information we get," Assange said. "There will be a full revelation."
According to a report in Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag, the data covers multinationals, financial firms and wealthy individuals from many countries, including the UK, US and Germany, and covers the period 1990-2009.
"The one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax evasion purposes," Elmer told Observer newspaper.
He said the files being handed over to whistle-blower site WikiLeaks exposed activities in offshore financial centres.
At the press briefing, Assange said that, with his organisation focussed on the publication of its cache of about 250,000 diplomatic cables, it could be several weeks before Elmer's files are reviewed and posted in the WikiLeaks website.
The Swiss banker has previously leaked banking documents to the secret-spilling site and told journalists that he wanted to expose the offshore banking system.
"I want to let society know how this system works," he said. "It's damaging society."
The banker released the files two days before he is due to appear before a Zurich regional court to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws.
Elmer said he would not reveal what specifically was in the documents, and would not disclose "individual companies or individual names" of the account holders.
Read more: Ex-Swiss banker gives secret documents of super rich to WikiLeaks - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Ex-Swiss-banker-gives-secret-documents-of-super-rich-to-WikiLeaks-/articleshow/7305606.cms#ixzz1BJ3ennZW

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Humour in Uniform (Off Base)

I joke contributed by me has been published in the Reader’s Digest. The Humour in Uniform (Off Base) page has been reproduced below:

Posted at the Tezpur airbase in Assam, I was glancing through our attendance register when a strange non-combatant designation caught my attention. I later figured out that “Plant Barber” was the topiarist who trimmed the garden’s bushes and trees.
- Ramesh H.T., Bangalore

RBI clamps down on banks delaying pension payout

Letter from RBI on Pension Payment
RBI clamps down on banks delaying pension payout
April 22, 2010 08:07 PM |
Sucheta Dalal with Sanket Dhanorkar
Central bank wakes up to inordinate delays in payments faced by government pensioners; reprimands bankers and directs them to make good the dues immediately, along with penal interest
In what could be a major victory for government pensioners awaiting pension payments, the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has taken bankers to task for inordinate delays in disbursing revised pension and arrears.
Taking a serious view of the matter, the RBI has issued a circular (dated 9 April 2010) to various banks with an exasperated tone, directing the concerned banks to ensure that all entitled pensioners are paid their revised pension or arrears within 15 days from receipt of the circular. Additionally, it has also advised the banks to make a penal interest payment of 2% for any delay beyond the due date.
The RBI was forced to take this tough stand after receiving several complaints from pensioners, especially State government pensioners, alleging inordinate delay in disbursing the revised pension and arrears. Under the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, RBI had advised pension-paying banks to put in place a suitable mechanism so that pensioners could get the benefits announced by the government in the succeeding month's pension payment itself. The controlling offices or head offices of agency banks were also advised to closely monitor and supervise the timely and accurate disbursement of pension to the pensioners.
An RBI review of the pension payment systems in various agency banks revealed the true story behind the picture. The circular highlights RBI's findings as follows:
Even though Pension Relief Orders were issued by the respective State Governments, there is inordinate delay ranging from one month to 18 months at the Agency Bank level in disbursing the revised pension as also the pension arrears. The delay was more pronounced in the case of those State Govt pensioners residing outside their States drawing pension from Agency Bank branches. To be specific, non-State resident pensioners have not received adequate attention and timely receipt of the revised pension/arrears for months together.
The circular goes on to highlight the discrepancies of banks in administering the pension payouts. Our experience was that customer service on pension payment matters was not effective at the branch level where customers normally interface with the front office,said the central bank's communique.
The RBI also makes note of the lack of coordination between the branches and the Central Pension Processing Centres, as also the absence of transparency in the calculation of the revised pension or arrears.
In a tone that is vividly indignant, the RBI questions the concerned banks' indiscretions. Pension payment is an agency function entrusted to you for a commission @ Rs60 per transaction and an amount of Rs487 crore has been paid to Agency Banks on account of pension disbursements alone during the year 2008-09. Although this is a significant income generating activity, it appears that it is still not given the due importance that it deserves.
In view of the above, the RBI has advised banks to undertake review of the system of attending to customer service and have a pension accounts guide at all branches to assist the pensioners in all their dealings with the bank. Additionally, RBI has demanded that suitable arrangements be made, to place on the bank website details about the pension calculations, and made available to the pensioners at periodic intervals with sufficient advertisements to that effect.
With the RBI finally wisening up to the reality and putting its foot down squarely on the Agency banks, they will have to take a deeper look at their archaic systems and make life easier for pensioners. As the RBI rightly puts it, Pension is the lifeline of the pensioners and any delay in affording their legitimate dues will rob them of the dignity of life to which they are entitled to.