Monthly Archives: August 2018

A larger Bench of the tribunal today interpreted Section 29 of the AFT Act and Rule 25 of the AFT Rules to hold that the legislature did not intend to keep the AFT toothless.

n a significant judgment that is expected to give teeth to the orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), a larger Bench of the tribunal comprising Justice Anu Malhotra, Lt. General CP Mohanty and Rear Admiral Dhiren Vig held on Wednesday held that AFT possesses powers of contempt of court to get its orders implemented in case of willful non-compliance.

The larger bench was constituted in 2014 when a two-member bench at Delhi had expressed apprehensions following a judgment of the Kerala High Court which had directed the Kochi Bench of AFT to invoke powers of contempt in case of non-compliance by defence authorities.

The matter referred to the larger bench included cases filed by Lt. Col. Mukul Dev in the year 2014 at the Kolkata Bench and suo-moto contempt proceedings initiated by the Chandigarh Bench.

Hearings were held in the case in April and May this year.

In a judgment running into more than 500 pages, perhaps the longest in the AFT’s history, the larger bench today interpreted Section 29 of the AFT Act and Rule 25 of the AFT Rules to hold that the legislature did not intend to keep the AFT toothless.

It observed that more than 5,000 of its orders are lying unimplemented without any stay from the High Court or the Supreme Court.

In the past, the Punjab & Haryana Court had come down heavily upon the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for non-implementation of orders of the AFT.

The Supreme Court and various High Courts have also passed strong observations against MoD for filing frivolous appeals against disabled personnel and other pensioners in settled matters.

Advocate Rajiv Manglik appeared for Lt. Col. Mukul Dev.

Additional Solicitor General Vikramjeet Banerjee and advocate Anil Gautam appeared for Union of India.

Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao of Delhi High Court and advocate Navdeep Singh of Punjab & Haryana High Court served as Amicii Curiae.

The landmark judgment running into more than 500 pages with appendices and perhaps the longest in the tribunal’s history

ijay Mohan

Chandigarh, July 31
A larger Bench of Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on Wednesday ruled that it  possesses the powers of contempt to get its orders implemented in case there is wilful non-compliance by the respondents.

The judgment will now give much-needed teeth to AFT to get its orders, which in many instances were being ignored by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), implemented.

The larger bench was constituted in the year 2014 when a two-member bench at Delhi had expressed apprehensions in following a judgment of the Kerala High Court which had directed the Kochi Bench to invoke powers of contempt in case of non-compliance by defence authorities.

The landmark judgment running into more than 500 pages with appendices and perhaps the longest in the tribunal’s history, interpreted Section 29 of the AFT Act and Rule 25 of the AFT Rules to hold that the legislature did not intend keeping the AFT toothless.

The Bench, comprising Justice Anu Malhotra, Lt Gen CP Mohanty and Rear Admiral Dhiren Vig observed that more than 5,000 of the Tribunal’s orders are lying unimplemented without any stay from the High Court or the Supreme Court.

The bunch matter referred to the larger bench included cases filed by Lt Col Mukul Dev in the year 2014 at the Kolkata Bench and suo-moto contempt proceedings initiated by the Chandigarh Bench.

Marathon hearings were held in the case in April and May this year with Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee along with Anil Gautam, representing the government and Rajiv Manglik representing the litigants. The court had appointed lawyers Rajshekhar Rao and Navdeep Singh from the Delhi and the Punjab and Haryana High Courts, respectively, to assist the larger bench as amici curiae without taking sides.

In the past, the Punjab and Haryana Court has come down heavily upon the MoD for non-implementation of the AFT’s orders. The Supreme Court and various high courts have also passed strong observations against the MoD for filing frivolous appeals against disabled personnel and other pensioners in settled matters. The approach of the MoD has also drawn flak from the government’s own panels and committees.

Veteran organisations and lawyers point out that since late 2023, the MoD and the defence services are flooding all high courts and the Supreme Court with thousands of cases against military pensioners, including those on the same subjects which had been withdrawn from the courts on orders of the then defence ministers Manohar Parrikar and Nirmala Sitharaman.

Lawyers associated with military cases point out that writ petitions and appeals being filed by the MoD and the defence services are not only affecting the resources of the government and are burdening the exchequer with high litigation costs, but are also clogging the courts all over the country with cases against a vulnerable section of the society such as disabled veterans and widows.

New Delhi, July 30

Taking exception to the Centre’s failure to clear the pension dues of retired regular Captains of the Army in terms of the ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) scheme, the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave it one last opportunity to resolve the issue by November 14.

“For how many years will this go on? Either you pay an enhanced pension by 10% or we are imposing a cost on you. We wanted a decision to be taken, but you have not taken it. This matter came up in 2021 but still no decision has been taken,” a Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna told the Centre and imposed Rs 2 lakh costs on it to be deposited in the Army Welfare Fund in four weeks.

India

The Bench ndash; which also included Justice R Mahadevan ndash; warned that if the issue was not resolved by November 14, it would enhance the pension of retired regular Captains by 10%. It listed the matter for further hearing on November 25. On behalf of the Centre, Additional Solicitor-General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhatti said six anomalies had been pointed out by the Kochi Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), which needed to be rectified. Maintaining that the government could not take a decision in a piecemeal manner, she said it had to look at the issue holistically and consider all anomalies as the decision might affect others.

“All I can do is tender my apology. Please give us one more chance, we will take a decision in this regard. We will file an affidavit. Give us three months’ time to take a decision,” she said.

“What is this? If the government is not taking a decision, I cannot do anything. This does not give solace to these officers. They are retired Captains. They have no say. They have no access to you people. Either you start paying 10% more or pay the cost,” the Bench told the ASG. According to a December 2021 order of the AFT Kochi Bench, the government was required to take a decision on the pension payable to the retired regular Captains as there were anomalies that needed to be resolved for proper implementation of OROP.

However, the Centre challenged the AFT order. On July 23, the apex court had threatened to direct that the regular Captains would get pension enhanced by 20% from the date the OROP scheme was applicable, but it finally chose to give a last opportunity to the Centre.

The OROP was introduced in 2015 when the pension of current as well as past retirees was fixed. But there were certain anomalies in the pension tables for Captains and Majors.

Read more at: https://www.mypunepulse.com/fastag-rules-change-from-august-1-essential-information-for-vehicle-owners/

Starting August 1, significant changes to the FASTag system will be implemented, affecting how these electronic toll collection tags are managed. Here’s a comprehensive guide

Read more at: https://www.mypunepulse.com/fastag-rules-change-from-august-1-essential-information-for-vehicle-owners/

by Girish Linganna

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, recently approved the acceptance of necessity (AoN) — the initial step in the procurement process — for acquiring Advanced Land Navigation Systems (ALNS) for the Indian Army’s Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs).

According to a statement from the Defence Ministry, the ALNS Mk-II is compatible with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS, NavIC) in addition to the Global Positioning System (GPS) — a satellite-based navigation system from the USA — and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GloNaSS) — a satellite-based navigation system from Russia.

What Is Advanced Land Navigation System?

The system is highly secure with advanced encryption to prevent spoofing, a deceptive practice where false data is sent to a system to make it believe it is receiving genuine information.

In navigation systems, spoofing involves sending fake GPS signals to mislead the receiver about its actual location, potentially causing significant navigational errors.

The ALNS MK-II system operates faultlessly with defence series maps, with exceptionally high accuracy results for AFV navigational applications.

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Chennai, will supply this equipment under the Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured, IDDM) category of the buying process.

How Does Advanced Land Navigation System Work?

The ALNS is a device installed in ‘A’ vehicle to help navigate through areas without distinct landmarks. ‘A’ vehicle refers to any mode of transportation, such as cars, trucks, or military vehicles, which can move people or goods from one place to another. BEL has created this equipment that helps navigate routes based on the coordinates of a military map.

The ALNS helps both the commander and the driver by constantly updating the vehicle’s current location and direction to the chosen destination. The main sensor used in the system is known as an Inertial Measurement Unit. The ALNS can function in three distinct modes based on the requirements. These modes are:

Inertial Mode: The system relies entirely on data from inertial sensors. Inertial sensors are devices that measure specific force, angular rate and, sometimes, the magnetic field surrounding the sensor. These measurements allow the system to track its position, orientation and velocity without external references, using such instruments as accelerometers and gyroscopes.

Hybrid Mode: In this mode, the system uses data from both an inertial sensor and a GPS receiver, choosing the most precise information to calculate navigational parameters. A GPS receiver is a device that determines one’s exact location on Earth by receiving signals from satellites.

GPS Mode: In this mode, the system works on its own without using data from the inertial sensor. It relies solely on GPS signals to function.

Advanced Land Navigation System MK-II

The ALNS MK-II is a navigation system that uses a Hemispherical Resonating Gyro (HRG)—a type of gyroscope—a device that helps measure and maintain orientation and angular velocity—used for precise navigation. It works by detecting changes in orientation using the vibrations of a small, hemispherical resonator.

The system helps navigate routes defined by the coordinates on a military map in Digital Surface Model (DSM) format, which is a type of digital representation that captures Earth’s surface, including all natural and man-made features, such as trees and buildings.

This data is often used in mapping and navigation to provide detailed terrain information.

The system offers navigation data using Inertial, GPS, GLONASS, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) and Hybrid, which combines data from multiple sources to provide the most accurate navigation information—methods to meet various navigation needs.

The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bangalore

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 31
Following two meetings in July between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, officials of the two sides met in New Delhi today to find an early resolution of the military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Talks to continue
The delegations agreed to maintain the momentum of talks through the established diplomatic and military channels. MEA statement

At the 30th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), the Indian delegation was led by Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia), MEA. The Chinese team was headed by Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting was aimed at taking forward the discussions held between the two ministers in Astana (Kazakhstan) and Vientiane (Laos). “The two sides reviewed the situation along the LAC for finding an early resolution of the outstanding issues,” the MEA said in a statement.
The statement echoed what Jaishankar had told Wang: “Restoration of peace and tranquillity, and respect for the LAC, are an essential basis for bringing back normalcy in bilateral relations.” The two sides agreed on the “need to jointly uphold peace and tranquillity on the ground in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings”. They agreed to continue talks through diplomatic and military channels, the MEA said.

New Delhi, July 29

A meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, today approved the ‘need to procure’ 22 interceptor boats for the Indian Coast Guard.

The ‘need to procure’ is termed as Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) of the said equipment. The AoN is the first step in the acquisition process of the MoD and is like a green light to the forces to frame the tenders for procurement. The MoD said the AoN was for the procurement of 22 interceptor boats with the latest state-of-art system capable of quick interception and shallow water operation in territorial waters. The boats would be used for coastal surveillance and patrolling, and search and rescue operations, including medical evacuation.

The DAC also okayed other capital acquisition proposals, including the procurement of Advanced Land Navigation System (ALNS) for Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) of the Army. The system is spoof-proof with high levels of encryption. The ALNS Mk-II is compatible with Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, NAVigation using Indian Constellation (IRNSS, NavlC).

New Delhi, July 31
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has requested Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to withdraw the 18 per cent goods and services tax (GST) on life and medical insurance premiums.

Stalling growth
18% GST on medical insurance premiums is proving to be a deterrent for the growth of this business segment. Nitin Gadkari, union minister

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said he was happy that Gadkari endorsed the demand that he made yesterday on the floor of House asking the Finance Minister to remove the 18 per cent GST levelled on health and life insurance premiums. “We are an underinsured country and we must encourage people to insure themselves,” he said.
In his letter to the Finance Minister, Gadkari raised concerns of the Nagpur Division Life Insurance Corporation Employees Union, which had submitted a memorandum to him regarding the issues of the insurance industry.
Referring to the memo, the minister said, “Levying the GST on life insurance premium amounts to levying tax on the uncertainties of life.
The union feels that the person who covers the risk of life’s uncertainties to give protection to the family should not be levied tax on the premium to purchase cover against this risk.”
He said the main issue raised by the union
was related to the withdrawal of the GST on life and medical insurance premiums.
Both life insurance and medical insurance premiums are subject to an 18 per cent GST. “The 18 per cent GST on medical insurance premiums is proving to be a deterrent for the growth of this business segment, which is socially necessary,” Gadkari wrote. “You are requested to consider the suggestion of withdrawal of the GST on life and medical insurance premium on priority as it becomes cumbersome for senior citizens as per rules with due verification,” he said.