STATUS OF ECO’S
VIS-À-VIS REGULAR OFFICERS
For
the last few days, there have been several letters addressed to various authorities
in the Government and articles making a pitch for undoing the injustice done to
the officers granted emergency commissions after the 1962 war, and giving them
the facilities extended to regular officers such as ECHS etc. There is a need
to view this issue in its proper perspective, before taking a decision.
The debacle in 1962 resulted in virtual paralysis
in the political and military leadership. There were several knee jerk
reactions such the civil administration vacating Tezpur, destroying documents
and currency notes and setting free prisoners lodged in jails. However, the
most far reaching measures related to the pre-commission training of officers.
Though the Chinese had declared a unilateral a cease fire war on 21 November
1962, the Government decided to increase the intake of officers in 1963. Officers
Training Schools (OTSs) were established at Poona and Madras, which began to
turn out emergency commissioned officers after three to six months of training.
The training period of the regular courses at the IMA was also curtailed by
periods varying from six months to one and a half years. In addition to the
OTSs, short courses for emergency commissioned officers were conducted at the
IMA also in 1963-64. These measures were implemented without adequate thought
being given to the long term effects on the officer cadre which became apparent
with time.
In June 1963, three regular courses - 32nd,
33rd and 34th – passed out from the IMA togetheron 30
June 1963. (The GCs from Engineers, Signals and EME were sent to their
respective training institutions in March 1963, from where they were
commissioned on 30 June 1963). In the normal course, they would have passed out
in December 1963, June 1964 and December 1964 respectively. The first batch of
emergency commissioned officers of EC-1 coursewas commissioned on 30 June 1963.
During the period 1963 to 1965, twelve emergency courses passed from out the
IMA and the two OTSs, in addition to the regular courses. So, in fact no ECO
took part in the 1962 war, which had triggered their induction into the Indian
Army. After completing five years’ service, the ECOs who wished to be retained
had to undergo screening by the Services Selection Board. Those who were found
fit were given regular commissions after adjusting their seniority by the
shortfall in training, which was about one and a half years. However, the regular
officers commissioned in 1963 and 1964, many of whom had undergone the same
period of training as emergency commissioned officers, did not lose seniority.
This caused a lot of heart burn, not only among the ECOs but also the ex-NDA
regular officers, who became junior to the direct entry officers who would
otherwise have been commissioned along with them or later. For the ECOs who
were not found fit or left voluntarily there was a silver lining - many were
inducted into the All India and Central Services such as IAS and IPS, reaching
top positions by virtue of the fact that the Government agreed to count their
Army service while deciding their seniority in civil services.
After 1965 the grant of emergency
commissions was stopped. However, short service commissions began to be granted
to officers passing from the OTS at Madras from April 1966 onwards. Officers granted short service commissions
who were found fit were subsequently granted permanent commissions after loss
of seniority equal to the shortfall in training, which was about 14 months.
In 1970 or whereabouts, KP Singh Deo,
who was one of the few MPs with a military back ground (he was from the
territorial Army) proposed that ECOs should not lose seniority for the
shortfall in training since the regular officers who had undergone similar
training of six, 12 or 18 moths instead of twoyears at the IMA had not been
penalized in this manner. Of course, the argument was valid. There is no doubt
that there was an injustice done to ECO’s by this discrimination. However, the
solution was not what was suggested – restoration of seniority to ECOs. In fact
the regular officersshould have lost seniority equal to the shortfall
intraining. This has been the principle followed since the birth of the IndianArmy.
Even Cariappa, whopassed form the Temporary SchoolforIndian Cadets (TSIC) at
the Daly College Indore on 1 December 1919, was given seniority from 17 July
1920. This was done to account for the shortfall in training, as compared to
the Sandhurst trained officers, who had undergone two and a half years
training, while the Indore batch had spent only 18 months.
KP Singh Deo’s proposal drew a howl of
protest from the ex-NDA officers. There were instances when cadets who had been
withdrawn from the NDA had applied for emergency commission and been selected
due to relaxed standards in the SSB. They were granted emergency commissions before
their coursemates from the NDA. Restoring the loss of seniority would have resulted
in theseofficers becoming senior to the ex-NDA officers, for no fault of the
latter. I remember that several hundredrepresentations from Ex-NDA officers
were submitted to Army HQ on this issue. The proposal was ultimately dropped.
Asmentioned before, the ECOs who
were not found fit were discharged from service. However, they were given
several benefits, perhaps for the first and lasttime. Those who wished to join
the All India and Central Services were permitted to appear for the
examination, with increased age limits and lesser number of papers. Those who
were selected were granted seniority after taking into account the period they
had served in the Amy. As a result, almost all of them reached the rank of
Secretary beforethey retired. Those whocouldnot get into the Central Services
joined the State administrative services where similar benefits were extended
to them. As a result,most of them were promoted to the IAS, IPS etc., afterserving
for some time in the State cadres. In effect, these ECOs fared better than the ECOs
who had been granted regular commissions, who retired at the age of 56, 54 or
52, depending on the rank they attained, while the ex-ECOswho failed to make
the grade all served until the age of 60. So who actually suffered in the long
run, the ECOs or the regular officers?
31
May 2015
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