7th pay commission bonanza: All paramilitary men to retire at 60

NEW DELHI: In an unexpected bonanza for central armed police forces (CAPF) personnel, the Seventh Pay Commission has recommended one-rank one-pension formula for their pensioners. The panel also recommended 'martyr' status for central police force personnel who die in the line of duty , on par with the armed forces, and their families will now get ex-gratia of Rs 25-45 lakh.
Other than pension, the pay panel suggested a uniform retirement age for all paramilitary forces personnel at 60 years.

“The commission recommends a revised pension formulation for civil em ployees including CAPF personnel as well as for defence personnel, who have retired before January 1, 2016. This formulation will bring about parity between past pensioners and current retirees for the same length of service in the pay scale at the time of retirement,“ a press release put out by the government said.

About nine lakh retired paramilitary personnel had been demanding parity with defence forces on the ground that they were the first line of defence on the country's borders. Retired personnel recently started an agitation and sat on dharna at Jantar Mantar.National general secretary of the retired personnel association P S Nair told TOI on Thursday , “It's a great move. This will boost the morale of forces and jawans will not quit their jobs.“

The panel also recommended that the retirement age of all paramilitary forces personnel should be 60 years. Earlier, those between the ranks of constable and commandant re tired at 57 years while DIGs and above retired at 60.

The panel recommended that in case of death in the line of duty, personnel of CAPFs, central police organisations as well as police forces of Union Territories and RPF should be accorded “martyr“ status at par with defence forces personnel.

The paramilitary personnel dying in operations earlier got between Rs 15-18 lakh depending on the force and those dying in rescue and relief operations were not considered “martyrs“ and ex-gratia was often disputed. Now, “martyrs“ families will get Rs 25-45 lakh depending on the nature of duty heshe died in.