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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

DACP case posted in Supreme Court

The Dept. of Atomic Energy did not implement the Dynamic Assured career progression for fhe Medical Doctors employed in  Atomic Energy Hospitals and a contempt of Court case was filed by the Doctors against the Govt.

The Govt. filed a Special Leave Petition (civil) in the Supreme Court of India and the case is posted for hearing on 5th Auguest, 2011

Career boost scheme for military doctors: DACP

Hindustan Times
Chandigarh, July 25, 2011

In a significant move the Chandigarh bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal on Monday, reprimanded the central government and  directed it to issue instructions for implementation of Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) scheme for military doctors of the Army Medical Corps (AMC) within three months. The Tribunal has passed these directions on a petition filed by a senior AMC officer of Command Hospital. The move is bound to bring cheer to thousands across the country.

On the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission, the government had directed the implementation of DACP for all doctors under every ministry of the central government including those holding isolated posts. The said scheme involves four time  bound grade pay progressions till 20 years of service. While the first three grade pay progressions in AMC are similar to  other services, the non-grant of fourth progression of Rs 10000 grade pay on 20 years of service affected AMC officers. The scheme which was accepted by the cabinet was till now not implemented for AMC since the Principal Personnel Officers Committee (PPOC) comprising military officers had not given their nod to the issuance of implementation instructions stating that the Defence Ministry should first remove anomalies related to non-medical officers before implementing the  scheme. The PPOC had also opined that grant of higher grade pay to AMC officers would create internal seniority problems between AMC and non-AMC officers.

The Petition had however pointed out that according to the government’s gazette notification, higher grade pay did not affect seniority between different cadres. The Defence Ministry had also observed on file that the PPOC could not have overridden what was already approved and notified by the cabinet and the government. It was also observed by the Ministry that the contention of seniority problems due to higher pay was misconceived since doctors always traditionally enjoyed an edge in pay. The govt had however submitted before the Tribunal that they were examining the issue holistically before  implementing the scheme. It also came on record that the  Govt, the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services, the Navy and the Air Force had separately favoured the implementation of DACP.

While issuing directions in the matter, the AFT has observed that delay in the implementation of DACP had been detrimental to the interests of AMC since it had come into force in 2008 in all other departments

Interestingly, similar reservations regarding inter-se seniority were expressed by para-military organisations also before implementing DACP for uniformed paramilitary doctors but the scheme was finally implemented for all paramilitary doctors  when the Home Ministry intervened and asked paramilitary forces to strictly enforce DACP for all doctors.

Army doctors approach AFT for career scheme


Whether Army doctors are eligible for Dynamic Assured Career Progresssion (DACP) scheme will now be settled by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).


On a petition filed by five Army doctors for the implementation of DACP in Army Medical Corps (AMC) cadre of doctors, the Chandigarh Bench of AFT has issued notice to Ministry of Defence, Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services and Principal Personnel Officers’ Committee for April 8.


The question involved is whether the Ministry of Defence is right in seeking the nod of the Principal Personnel Officers’ Committee (PPOC), a non-statutory body, comprising the heads of the personnel branches of the armed forces, before issuance of implementation instructions of a scheme already accepted and approved by the Union Cabinet. 


The 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC) had recommended DACP should be implemented in all organised and un-organised medical services under the government, which implied four time-bound movements and progressions into higher grade pays till 20 years of service. While the movement into the first three grade pays of the pay hierarchy was already time-bound in the AMC, the point that affected these doctors particularly was limited to the fourth pay progression — that is all members of medical and dental services to move to Rs 10,000 Grade Pay (known as the Senior Administrative Grade Pay).