Committee to examine pay anomalies in defence: Antony

New Delhi: The government has set up a committee under the Cabinet Secretary to look into pay and pension-related issues of armed forces personnel and ex-servicemen, Defence Minister AK Antony said today.In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on correcting the "anomalies in the Sixth Pay Commission", he said, "Recently, a Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary has been set up to look into certain issues of relevance to the defence service personnel and ex-servicemen and to provide suitable recommendations."[caption id="attachment_426471" align="alignleft" width="380"] Defence Minister AK Antony. Image courtesy PIB[/caption]Recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission and several improvements made thereon by the government have been largely well received by the armed forces personnel including ex-servicemen, he said. "Some issues regarding service conditions, pay, pension and allowances have subsequently been received. These issues are examined by the government on case to case basis," Antony said.For matters relating to retirement benefits of service personnels, he said an Anomaly Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Secretary Defence/Finance and, "This Committee identified some anomalies which have since been addressed to by the government."The defence minister told the House that improvement of service conditions, pay, allowances and retirement benefits of armed forces personnel is a continuous process. In reply to a separate question on reservation of SC/ST in Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), he said, "The provisions for giving reservation in employment and promotion to SC/ST in OFB are applied to all posts as per instructions of Department of Personnel and Training." PTI