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Apex court asks Centre to mull extending finance benefits to para forces

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to re-think on the issue whether paramilitary forces –CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB –can be given monetary benefits like the "organised services".

The apex court was hearing a batch of appeals including one filed by the Centre against the Delhi High Court's September 2015 verdict asking the government to consider all paramilitary forces as "organised services".

The high court had said officers of paramilitary forces should be given the benefits including non-functional financial upgradation (NFU), earlier available to 'Group A organised services', from 2006 in terms of the 6th Pay Commission.

Under NFU, if all the officers of a particular batch cannot move up the ladder owing to lack of vacancies but only one does, the others will automatically get financial upgradation like the one who has been promoted.

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, representing the Centre, told the apex court if the paramilitary forces were declared as organised group 'A' services, there cannot be any deputation and no one from IPS cadre can come on deputation.

The apex court said it perceives that the paramilitary forces personnel were grieved by the non-grant of 'equal pay for equal work', a benefit granted to the organised services, and if the conferment of monetary benefit can assuage their grievance, the government might think over it.

"In the ultimate eventuate, we think it apt to say that if the conferment of monetary benefit can assuage the grievance of the respondents, the Union of India may rethink over the matter without disturbing its sense of discipline as it conceives," a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and M M Shantanagoudar said.
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