Defence Ministry has clarified that, No change in status of services

New Delhi: Clarifying on equivalence of military officers and their civilian counterparts due to a recent government order, the Defence Ministry has clarified that “there has been no downgradation or any change in the existing equivalence of the service ranks whatsoever” and the recent letter “is only for matters of assigning duties and functional responsibilities”.

The Defence Ministry in a statement on Thursday said that reports, quoting a letter dated October 18, 2016 issued by the Ministry of Defence, are erroneously stating that the equivalence has been disturbed and status of service officers has been downgraded.

“It is clarified that there has been no downgradation or any change in the existing equivalence of the Service ranks whatsoever. The existing functional equivalence as clarified in 1991 and further reiterated in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2005 has only been reaffirmed,” the statement said.

In the letter the Defence Ministry has defined the rank equation between civilian officer and serving military officer based on duties and functional responsibilities. As per that a Principal Director is equivalent to a Major General, A Director is equivalent to a Brigadier and a Joint Director is equivalent to a Colonel.

Earlier a Colonel was considered equivalent to a Director and so on which had created disappointment from the services.

The Ministry further stated that the present reiteration of rank equivalence, is only for matters of assigning duties and functional responsibilities as is already existing in different offices of the respective service headquarters of the Army, Navy and Air Force which have a component of service personnel as well as civilian officers.

The order has no bearing on civilian employees outside these offices of the service headquarters.

“It is reiterated that there is no change in the rank structure or the status of the Armed Forces personnel,” the statement added.

Bureau Report