It is about status and equality, not money: Navy chief

Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said the pay commission issues raised by the armed forces was 'not about money' but status and equality.

Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said the pay commission issues raised by the three armed forces was “not about money” but status and equality.

“The issue here is not about money. It has been overplayed by the media. It is about status and equivalence that existed (before the pay commission), and the command and control relationship (between the armed forces officers and their civilian counterparts),” Mehta, who is also the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee, said after Territorial Army Day parade in New Delhi.

“How it (status, equality, command and control structure) has been disturbed (by the pay commission report), nobody knows,” he said when asked about the issues raised during the meeting of the services chiefs with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday.

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Mukherjee heads a three-member ministerial committee set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into the grievances of the Army, Navy and Air Force over “anomalies” in the 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC).

“It was a fact-finding mission. We had a long discussion with the minister over the issues,” he said.

Welcoming the Cabinet approval to Phase-II of the Ajai Vikram Singh Committee report for creation of 1,896 new posts from Colonels to Lieutenant Generals and their equivalents in the three forces, Mehta said: “We are happy with the implementation. This was an ongoing thing.”

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