Part 1 – DISABLED INTO SILENCE : STORY OF DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY

I, Col Sanjay Pande, retired on 09 Sep 2006 in SHAPE-1, the top medical category and top physical condition.

PARTS

PART 1  : THE PROBLEM

PART 2  : THE SILENT GENERALS

PART 3  : UNEARTHING THE ‘DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY’

Disability Pension Cases

The ‘Armed Forces Tribunal’

The Lawyers and Advocates at AFT Representing Retired Officers/JCO/Jawans

The Lawyers and Advocates at AFT Representing Union of India

PART 4 : THE RAW MATERIAL- THE DISABLED OFFICERS/JCOs/JAWANS

PART 5 : THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF ARMED FORCES MEDICAL SERVICES

PART 6 : WHERE ARE WE TODAY?

PART 1 : THE PROBLEM

Social Media is always full of ‘heart wrenching’ stories of Ministry of Defence ‘denying’ Disability Pension to a jawan. Pictures of the suffering family, amputations, blind soldiers, and the making posts viral brings tremendous negative publicity to the Government. What is the issue? Why do these issues appear in social media? Why is Ministry of Defence painted as a demon? Who is doing it? Why is it being done? Who benefits with such news?

With thousands of veterans active on social media, why doesn’t anyone write about it? Why are Retired Generals silent? Why does no one inform the Government?

Why upset a cart when a well oiled ‘DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY’ is functioning quietly?

Where is Ministry of Defence involved? Where is Army HQ involved? Where is Air Force HQ involved? Where is Naval HQ involved? No where.

PART 2 : THE SILENT GENERALS

How it started? I just wanted to tell everyone that faking a disability and drawing a disability pension was the most unsoldierly act and against military ethos.

It all started as a simple tweet and a poll. Disability Pensions have gained a notorious name resulting in the genuine cases being masked by fake cases. The purpose was to find how the public at large, which may contain several veterans too, understood and viewed an action of a fake disability pension by a veteran. It was a generic question, could be pertaining to any rank and any age. It was the ‘act’ and not a trait.

Little did I realise that in a few days this simple question will take twitter by storm and I would be trolled relentlessly. See the poll results below, 76% call such officers ‘CHEAT’, 14% + 5.8% agree but avoid using word ‘CHEAT’, overall a whopping 95.8% agree its EMBEZZLEMENT and that the person did not deserve the money he claimed or manipulated the system to claim it.

Image 1

#MilitaryIAmClean #MilitaryEthos

My thread with above hashtags is on twitter and can be read directly.

The results above represented the consciousness of the participants and our society at large. This was a worrying aspect. How could I leave at that and let the society carry the feeling that the disability pensions were being drawn by many who were ‘cheats’? The genuine cases would have a negative impact too.

There is a larger good in this exercise. Twitter is a place where civilians, youth and those interested join army interact with Veterans. MILITARY ETHOS are taught in Academy and followed by all including Veterans. It was a good platform to debate.

Approaching the Retired Generals

What could be better than to involve the Retired Generals and the Lt Generals, the senior most ranks of Army? They are retired, were and are custodians of ‘Military Ethos’ and represent the army. A confirmation from then on social media would put things on record and let the society know of their standing.

I carried out extensive search on twitter and traced four retired Generals and 25 Retired Lt Generals, a total of 29. There were four retired Generals, Army Commanders, Vice and Deputy Chiefs of Army, the Adjutant General, Military Secretary, Corps Commanders and Director Generals. The selection could not be wider.

Of the 29 Generals, 15 Retired Generals are active on twitter with 3000 or more tweets, the rest 14 have less than 3000 tweets which, I feel, is not their mainstay for public debates. I will still approached them and requested for response. Number of tweets given is to know how active they are on Twitter. I did not expect any response from anyone with less than 1000 tweets. I did not have an idea of their seniority, arm/service, academy or type of entry. To me, they represent Indian Army and will give correct response for the overall good of army. I trusted them to uphold highest traditions and ethos of the Army for everyone to emulate. These are the custodians of army culture, army ethos and most importantly when in service, the Army Act.

If 96% of civilians could unambiguously call those claiming fake disability pension as ‘cheats’, I expected 100% Retired Generals and Lt Generals to express their opinion without any hesitation.

Approaching the Retired Generals and Lt Generals

All information, screen shot and advance information was given on twitter to the Generals a day before. The next day 29 Generals were approached individually on Twitter and each was sent the Image-1 above and asked the following questions:

1. Do you agree with the poll results?
2. Do you think last 30 years data be investigated ?
3. Can a Public Institution be put beyond Public Scrutiny?

Each was requested to respond in two days. A simple set of questions, generic in nature could be expected to have only one set of answers:

1. Do you agree with the poll results? YES
2. Do you think last 30 years data be investigated ? YES
3. Can a Public Institution be put beyond Public Scrutiny? NO

Response

Twenty five did not respond. Of the four who responded the responses were as follows:

First Response. The first responded without even receiving the questions and reacted on the Image-1 with “I wouldn’t like to comment and pass judgement, on a brother officer, on a public platform. If he is at fault the system will take care of it. Let’s not cut our nose to spite our face.” I had put forward a generic point why this reply? The thread was about a generic issue and a ‘poll’ to which Twitter Community responded. My questions to General were,

1. Which ‘brother officer’ is he referring to?

2. ‘If he is at fault’, who is ‘he’?

3. Which ‘system’ is being referred to?

The retired General ‘BLOCKED” me on Twitter. I thank this General since he ignited in me ‘curiosity’.

Second Response. A retired Army Commander quoted ‘rules’ and that is within laid down rules, the disability was fine.

Third Response. Neutral.

Fourth Response. He called it embezzlement, agreed it was cheating and questioned integrity.

Summary

96.55% did not give answers to the three questions. A simple question “an officer manipulating to get all promotions and just before retirement ‘managing’ to get ‘DISABLED’ to get enhanced pension as the most unsoldierly act and EMBEZZLEMENT”?’ did not get any response.

This simple exercise to bring the common ethos and views of Generals and Lt Gens on Twitter failed.

Failure, as we all know feeds ‘curiosity’. I thank all the Retired Generals to have made me curious. There was something more to it.

PART 2 : UNEARTHING THE ‘DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY’

The ‘Silence of Generals’ prompted me to start with them. Why were they silent? Why did they not respond to a simple question?

I have tracked news about ‘Disability Pension’ cases being fought in courts by Ministry of Defence. The name of Ministry of Defence and its staff is tarnished on regular basis. If that was so, why don’t the Generals speak?

Many more questions came in my mind and a sustained effort to understand the ‘Disability Pension’ issue from publicly available information commenced.

Disability Pension Cases

What are these cases? Disability Pension is allowed over and above the normal pension for life and is not taxable. There is a complex system that finally results in award of the disability pension. When a soldier does not agree with the award, is not awarded the disability pension or simply wants to challenge the award, he has been given an opportunity to approach courts. He cannot approach civil courts and must file case in an Armed Forces Tribunal.

The tribunal has judicial powers and each individual case is represented by the applicants lawyer. Since the cases are filed on ‘Union of India’, the Government is represented by Defence Council.

The court is set. Two ‘judges’ or a ‘Bench’. An applicant represented by a ‘lawyer’ and the Central Government represented by ‘Standing Counsel’.

The ‘Armed Forces Tribunal’

Armed Forces Tribunal handles all cases pertaining to individuals like promotion, court martials, challenging military decisions etc.. By orders og the Government 100% cases of Disability Pension are required to be filed in AFT. No court in India can accept cases pertaining to Disability Pensions.

AFT is under Ministry of Defence while all other tribunals in India are under Ministry of Law and Justice. Appointments of the ‘Administrative Member’, are controlled by Ministry of Defence. Retired officers of Rank of Major General and Lt Generals are nominated. To an Indian ‘hierarchy’ matters more than anything else and the ‘boss’ of AFT is Ministry of Defence.

AFT Benches. A “Bench” has just TWO members. Both need to be present to dispose a case. It is deemed non functional if one member is absent. There are 17 Benches of AFT spread all over the country.

Judicial Member. A Bench comprises of a Judicial Member who is Retired/Ex High Court or Supreme Court judge. The Judicial Member is nominated by Ministry of Law and Justice.

Administrative Member. The second member is called ‘Administrative Member’ who is supposed to be an Officer of the rank of Retired Lt General or Retired Maj General and above and it’s equivalents from Air Force and Navy. The Administrative Member is nominated by Ministry of Defence.

Entitlement of Members. The Members of the Benches are entitled the same pay, privileges and perks as are being enjoyed by any High Court Judge. This converts to Rs 2 lac per month or more PLUS perks almost of same amount. Pension of previous service is given as per orders.

AFT Benches Today. With a sanction of 17 benches in 11 locations across India, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) currently operates with just 4 benches in 3 locations. Judicial Members and Administrative Members are not posted in all tribunals hence Benches do not operate. Only FOUR Judicial Members are posted, and THIRTEEN BENCHES ARE NON FUNCTIONAL since there are no Judicial Members. Only SEVEN Administrative Members are posted, ten Benches do not have any administrative member. Since it is mandatory for both members to be posted, only four benches are functioning.

Salaries are drawn and perks are being enjoyed by all the members posted as on date whether the bench functions or not.

Four functional benches are located two in Delhi, one in Lucknow and one in Chandigarh.

Filing of Cases from Other Areas. No clarity, however anyone can file case in the Principal Bench of AFT which is in Delhi. Cases from all over India are pending since 10 years. 99% cases pertain to Jawans and JCOs.

Pendancy of Cases. 19000 cases are pending with AFTs.

The Silent Generals. The above gives lot of insight into silence. It is spoken in service circled that a Lt General retiring within one year starts his rounds to get nominated on AFT Bench. Four years paid tenure. At 65 years age he must retire from bench, hence can we expect him to speak on disability pension? Lobbying makes most silent, those 65 yrs age and above are nit affected, those eyeing for better positions remain silent and as a loyalty towards colleagues, it pays to be silent.

A Supreme Court Lawyer says, each Lt General desires to be appointed as ‘Administrative Member’ in AFT after retirement and effort starts 6-12 months before retirement. An Army Lt Gen has JUST one chance to earn money after retirement. At 65 yrs its quits for ever. Aim is to search for slots, lobby, reach out & make friends. Will any Lt General want AFT to be closed? Its MONEY. High Court Judge equivalent salary with perks. Its as per rules. Nothing wrong. Beneficiary of ‘System’. Ministry of Defence appoints Administrative Members so MoD controls. Can you rule out “quid pro quo” (a favour or advantage granted in return for something)?

https://theprint.in/judiciary/armed-forces-tribunal-has-19000-pending-cases-but-heres-why-this-is-least-of-its-problems/624020/ The news item pertains to General who was incharge of Disability Pensions in Army, Adjutant General.

Where is DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY in this? When Retired Generals do not bring issue of the entire system to the notice of the Government they are ‘part’ of the system as much as anyone else. They eye benefits if terms of a seat or being appointed as an Administrative Member. Those who were members before, those who are now and those eyeing the nomination have been the beneficiaries. All paid out of Defence Budget.

These Retired Generals are part of the problem and deliberately hide solutions. They, thus become part of the DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY.

Where is Ministry of Defence involved? It’s the Armed Forces Retired Officers alone who are Administrative Members and know complete issue under discussion.

The Lawyers and Advocates at AFT Representing Retired Officers/JCO/Jawans

The lawyers need to be registered at the Bar Association of AFT to enable practice in AFT.

Who can file a case? A officer veteran cannot file his grievance directly in AFT and plead the case himself. The case has to be presented by an advocate/lawyer. A jawan can be represented by a lawyer since being not-so-literate there is no choice. A lawyer represents a soldier in AFT.

About Lawyers. This is a specialist field and the civil lawyers are found wanting due to lack of domain knowledge. Armed Forces have a Judge and Advocate General Branch to handle all legal cases. Civilians with law degrees are commissioned as officers and will be found posted in Corps Headquarters and higher headquarters. Similar is the case in Air Force and Navy. They are regular commissioned officers and wear ‘JAG” as shoulder titles. They are the ‘legal’ arm of armed forces. They retire too. They must have post retirement work to survive. Can there be a better employment than practicing in AFTs? A lawyer with good practice hires law qualified juniors from civil. They learn on job. All legal. All white.

Besides JAG Branch Officers, regular officers obtain Law Degrees during the course of their career. Post retirement they look for employment too and AFTs become a very comfortable choice. The chances that these officers know the Administrative Members very closely are much higher.

Lawyers and AFT Administrative Members. They all wore uniform and it would not be unusual for all JAG Branch lawyers to have known the Lt General or Major General while in service. Question of unfamiliarity does not arise.

Lawyer/Advocate Fees Representing Officers/JCOIs/Jawans. No service is provided for free. A JCO/Jawan pays Rs 50,000/- to Rs 1,00,000/- to a lawyer whereas an officer pays between Rs 2,00,000/- to 2,50,000/- for their respective cases.Lawyers must represent the soldiers or officers. Assuming 25,000 cases of disability pension are pending (some say it is 75,000 pending cases) and @ 75K per JCO/Jawan (90% cases) and Rs 2.5 lacs per officer (10% cases) as LEGAL FEES (its fair and white money) the total fees paid upfront is Rs 169 Cr + Rs 63 Cr for officers- Total of Rs 232 Cr paid to lawyers. All LEGAL and WHITE.

So, as on date assuming 25,000 cases are filed in AFTs, Rs 232 crs (minimum) already stands paid to the lawyers. How many Bar Associations are there in AFTs? How many practicing lawyers? Assuming one case drags for three years, and number of years AFTs are in being, it is safe to assume that more than Rs 1000 Crs have been paid in fees so far. This all is lawyers fees, hence legal and white.

Where is DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY in this? Retired Officers from JAG Branches of Army, Navy and Air Force are the most appropriate people to handle legal cases pertaining to services. They practice at AFTs by representing the officers, JCOs and Jawans and file cases “AGAINST” Union of India. Their ‘fees’ is paid by individuals from their pensions, which in turn is paid out of Defence Budget.

These Retired JAG Branch Officers and qualified law Officers practicing in AFTs are part of the problem. Their interest lies in more and more cases being filed. Zero cases would mean Zero income. Why would they want it? They, thus become part of the DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY.

Where is Ministry of Defence involved? It’s the Armed Forces Retired JAG Branch Officers and Law qualified officers alone who practice in AFTs and are completely aware of the functioning.

The Lawyers and Advocates at AFT Representing Union of India

Retired Lt Generals taken care of and Lawyers representing taken care of. By ORDERING all Disability Pension disputes to be heard only in AFT, regular ‘flow’ of ‘raw material’ is taken care of too. A case can be filed in AFT by the Jawan / Officer AFTER retirement. Case is taken as being against Union of India. How does Union of India ‘fight’ the case? Who represents Union of India?

The next pillar enters the scene. The Standing Counsels. Ministry of Defence has no choice but to respond to notices issued by AFT. Once a case is files, as in normal court, the ‘other’ party needs to respond. The other party being the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The MoD does not have lawyers on its rolls. What do they do when notice after notice is received? They have to respond. There is neither dedicated staff nor expertise. They go for ‘contracting’ lawyers from civil who are called Standing Counsel. These lawyers are authorised in writing for a given period, usually one year, and they are given responsibility to attend to 100% cases filed against Union of India in AFTs.

Can the Standing Counsels work for free? The Standing Counsels are not paid salaries. The MoD approves their fees per appearance. They are paid ‘per appearance’. Rs 22,000/- to Rs 37,000/- PER APPEARANCE, thereafter for same case Rs 10,000/- per appearance. The more they appear, the more they earn. The payment is not done by MoD directly. It is done by local army units to the Standing Counsel. Each case is allotted to a local unit. The local units job is to appear in each hearing. They send a clueless JCO with the file. Their job is to appear. They take briefing from Standing Counsel and get the letter typed and signed in unit and submit in AFT. The Standing Counsel, thus controls all cases.

The Standing Counsel submits his fees to the unit which pays him out of special fund allotted by HQ. These are Public Funds, i.e. Government Funds and in this case from Defence Budget.

ALL WHITE, ALL LEGAL. ALL WITHIN RULES. All from DEFENCE BUDGET.

Process of representing ‘Union of India’. No service is provided for free. A Standing Counsel gets paid per appearance. The more he appears, the more he earns. The more the cases, the more he earns. The more he delays implementation of award from AFT, the more sustainable is the inflow. He, hence has a simple focus. He challenges 100% cases decided by AFT and takes away the case from AFT to the High / Supreme Court. At each hearing in these courts, he just has to wait for the court to give ‘next date’. He earns Rs 10K for 5-6 seconds for which he was in court.

A case is generally settled in three years and requires on an average 15-20 hearings. At Rs 22,000/- per hearing for new cases and Rs 10,000/- for appearance, a Standing Counsel generally makes Rs 3 to Rs 4  lacs from each case. Even if 1000 cases are settled each year, Rs 40-50 Cr are claimed as fees by Standing Counsels. For the functioning AFTs, the number of Standing Counsels is known since authorisation is given by MoD. This Rs 40-Rs 50 Cr is thus distributed among Standing Counsels/their juniors.

If the AFT rules in favour of the pensioner and the award goes to the Controller of Defence Accounts and disability pension commences, how does the Standing Counsel earn his bread? To him regardless of merit, each and every case must be challenged.

Their aim is to challenge and take away the case from AFT to courts. It’s the crocodile in free water now. Counsels now ‘challenge’ and move next court. Each hearing Rs 22K to Rs 37K or Rs 10K. Any number of hearings. It has gone out of AFT’s preview. Now its in Courts.

Nothing illegal so far. Defence Budget is taking care. After numerous ‘dates’ the Court awards in favour of pensioner. Govt Counsel ‘studies’ verdict and spends lot of time ‘understanding’. The pensioner is desperate. The award has not reached the Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions). Pensioner files ‘contempt’ against the Union of India. He pays fees to the hired lawyers. Standing Counsel again represents Union of India and ‘appears’ and charges appearance fee.  All legal money, all white, all from Defence Budget.

Lawyer/Advocate Fees Representing Union of India. Who are these Standing Counsels? JAG Officers who had the correct managing capabilities represent Union of India. It’s a club. Again it is the Retired Armed Forces Officers from Judge and Advocate General Branch who have a iron claw like control on the appointments.

Did MoD attend hearings?

Where is DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY in this? Retired Officers from JAG Branches of Army, Navy and Air Force are the most appropriate people manage to get appointed as Standing Counsels. They represent Ministry of Defence at AFTs and right up to Supreme Court. They represent Union of India. Their ‘fees’ is paid by units from Public Funds specially allotted to a unit from  Budget.

These Retired JAG Branch Officers and other law qualified officers appointed as Standing Counsels are part of the problem. Their interest lies in more and more cases being filed. Zero cases would mean Zero income. Why would they want it? They, thus become part of the DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY.

Where is Ministry of Defence involved? It’s the Armed Forces Retired JAG Branch Officers and Law qualified Officers alone who now ‘represent’ Union of India are handling the show and are completely aware of the functioning of the system.

PART 4 : THE RAW MATERIAL- THE DISABLED OFFICERS/JCOs/JAWANS

This industry is white, within rules, legal and operating openly. Can this industry survive if AFTs have no cases to decide or AFTs pass judgements which are accepted by Union of India? The industry will close overnight if no cases come to AFT.

What cases? What is the dispute? Who comes to AFT?

Unless you understand how a person gets Disability Pension credited in his account, you will never be able to resolve the issue.

Is Ministry of Defence involved so far? The complete industry is being run by the veterans donning different caps.

The Disabled. The DISABLED are ‘raw material’, the ‘ore’ from which GOLD is extracted. Everyone is a winner while being within rules. Disabled are of THREE TYPES. The GENUINE, the LUCKY and 3rd, ‘THE CHEATS’ (smart-alecs).

GENUINE disabled are the only ones who deserve the pension. They may be battle casualties or medical cases. What is common is that they are GENUINE. Their earning potential has been drastically reduced and the doctors convert their disability into a percentage. 50% disability means that the person can perform just 50% when compared to another soldier of his age who is completely fit. The Government grants him disability pension which when compared to a fit soldier means that while the fit soldier gets Rs 30,000 as monthly pension, this disabled soldier with 50% disability will get Rs 30,000+Rs15,000+Rs 45,000 for life.

Less than 20% disability is not recognised as disability hence the fight is to get at least 20%.

People know about disability pension they get.

The ‘LUCKY’ and the ‘CHEATS’ disabled masquerade as ‘GENUINE’ they get extremely aggressive if called out.

The ‘Lucky’ disabled are a strange variety. They were downgraded by doctors against their wish, they suddenly are exposed to a world that they never knew existed. No hard postings, no PT, no BPET, excused of most tough duties… they love it and keep quiet and carry on. The ‘system’ made them DISABLED. Why will they speak? At the end of service, they continue being mum and get a disability pension. They enjoy for life. They will always convince others that they have suffered an lot and deserve the disability pension.

Example of a LUCKY DISABLED…. say… an officer goes for medical check up and is declared having Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) at 7 years-service. It may well be due to a faulty machine. Medical category is lowered. He serves for full service. Takes permitted promotions. No field area, no high altitude, no hard exercises and enjoys 100% facilities. He gets himself checked in civil and finds he is perfectly ok. He enjoys new status in Army and enjoys next 25 yrs. and on retirement gets say 50% Disability Pension. Now he has tax free 50% pension over and above normal pension. He gets checked again at private hospital. He is 100% FIT. He is the LUCKY DISABLED.

LUCKY DISABLED remain quiet while serving. Their (fake) request to Medical Authorities to ‘upgrade’ results in arrogant doctors continuing them in low category. An armed forces doctor is more of ego and less of a doctor. Tell him to upgrade you and he will make sure that you remain in low medical category. He ends up helping the Lucky Disabled. The ABLE are DISABLED.

Now comes the MANIPULATORS, CHEATS and the OPPORTUNISTS. “THE CHEAT DISABLED”. These are masters who want each promotion, keep close track of criteria for promotion, manipulate postings and ACRs while keeping a close eye on promotion boards. They manage all promotions and reach higher, soon as they finally know that they will not get any more promotion, the medical category comes back before retirement.

Other cheats are the ones who get all promotions in normal course and just before retirement get medically downgraded for Disability Pension. These people reach highest levels. For example, Lt Generals and Major Generals know that their Medical Board proceedings will be put up to the Adjutant General (AG), AG has no qualification to assess and he approves. The documents are accepted and sent to CDA (O) for paying disability pension. Could it become easier?

Ask your friends in Army or Police if they can identify a terrorist or a naxal in a crowd. They cannot. All are civilians. Like-wise these CHEAT DISABLED and LUCKY DISABLED mix with GENUINE DISABLED. How do you differentiate?

All three categories of DISABLED are welcomed by Disability Pension Industry.

1. Disabled are quiet.

2. Lt Gens are quiet.

3. AFT Members are quiet.

4. Lawyers are quiet.

5. Govt Counsel are quiet.

6. MoD is quiet.

The industry is quiet.

Numbers retiring Each Year. Army has close to 55-60,000 personnel retiring each year. Assuming 10% are disabled (some say it is more), 5500 to 6000 personnel claim disability pension each year. Even if 3000 go to AFT each year, the complete Disability Pension Industry machine starts grinding. It is a perpetual Motion Machine.

Smart Generation. The latest generation is smart. Everyone knows about the disability pension. They go to the hospitals throughout their service. Their category is known and submitted in unit. At the end of service he gets his Medical Board done. The unit is nowhere involved. How is Ministry of Defence to know genuineness of the case. Smart Generation is beating them.

Where is DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY in this? This is the ‘ore’ from where perpetual raw material is provided to the industry. Each year 55-60,000 soldiers retire. High number among them are medically lower in category and disabled. Satisfaction will never be 100% and hence the cases will never cease. They, thus become part of the DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY  since at a later stage they will pay fees to lawyers.

Where is Ministry of Defence involved?

PART 5 : THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF ARMED FORCES MEDICAL SERVICES (DGAFMS)

The Directorate General of Armed Forces Medical Services is under Ministry of Defence. The Lt General heading it reports to Defence secretary. The Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Naval Staff have no say in any policy matter or practically any aspect dealt by DGAFMS. DGAFMS is manned by officers from Army, Navy and Air Force.

DGAFMS has an office each in the three service headquarters represented by Director General Medical Services (Army), Director General Medical Services (Air Force) and Director General Medical Services (Navy). Offices of DGMS are manned by armed forces officers. All policies flow from DGAFMS to DGMS Army, Navy and Air Force. Practically the complete medical aspect of three services is controlled by DGAFMS which is under Ministry of Defence.

In Army, administratively, medical aspects are under the Adjutant Generals Branch. The Adjutant General is one of the main staff officers of Chief of Army Staff. Entire personnel of Army are under the Personal Services Directorate.

DGAFMS has a say in every disability pension case of officers. The medical board documents are sent to PS Directorate for approval, for no reason, PS Directorate sends them to Integrated Financial Advisor (IFA) (Army). IFA has no knowledge and askes for help. DGAFMS sends a representative to IFA. This officer over rules the Medical Boards and arbitrarily amends disability percentages. At times the IFA changes on his own without having any knowledge of the field. PS Directorate plays safe, whenever anything is changed, it mentions in papers if DGAFMS or IFA changed it.

Where is DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY in this? 100% policies flow down the DGAFMS chain. Who keeps track? Whether to mention disability in terms of percentage or not or when to mention etc. all is left vague. The representative of DGAFMS with IFA? Why does file go to the IFA? Why has Army changed policy for Maj Gen and Lt Gens disability cases to go to Adjutant General? These are all policies, small changes, here and there, and 24X7. The complete system has been tailor made for the industry to survive. DGAFMS is part of this industry.

Where is Ministry of Defence involved? Everywhere in the medical chain it is only armed forces officers.

PART 6 : WHERE ARE WE TODAY?

1. Disabled are quiet- All from armed forces.
2. Retired Chiefs/Lt Generals & equivalent in IAF & Navy quiet- All from Armed Forces
3. AFT Administrative Members are quiet- All from Armed Forces
4. Lawyers are quiet- Most from Armed Forces.
5. Govt Counsel are quiet.-Most from Armed Forces.
6. DGAFMS is quiet. – Most from Armed Forces.
7. Personal Directorates are quiet. – All from Armed Forces.
8. CDA Pension is quiet.
9. IFAs are quiet.

A THOUSAND CRORE DISABILITY PENSION INDUSTRY IS QUIET

Where is Ministry of Defence involved? Where is Army HQ involved? Where is Air Force HQ involved? Where is Naval HQ involved? No where.

JAI HIND