Army and Defence Accounts clear long-pending claims worth Rs 400 cr by soldiers, more in the offing

 The initiative was launched to resolve grievances of soldiers regarding their dues, especially those related to children's education allowances, house rent allowances & pay fixation cases.

SMRUTI DESHPANDE, The Print, 24 September, 2023, New Delhi: The Indian Army and the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) have cleared a huge backlog of pending monetary claims of junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and those from other ranks (ORs) after conducting a nationwide campaign. The total amount of claims released is to the tune of Rs 400 crore, which will benefit a large number of soldiers serving in the Army, ThePrint has learnt.

The campaign was launched in early September by Joint CGDA (Grievances), with the aim to resolve the grievances of the JCOs and ORs regarding their dues, especially those related to children education allowances, house rent allowances and pay fixation cases. 

Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint Sunday that the Indian Army had been receiving lots of grievances from JCOs and ORs that the claims made by them had not been passed.

“The measures were instituted to fast-track the passing of claims, especially those pertaining to children’s education allowances, house rent allowances and pay fixation cases,” the sources added.

The sources said that the payout will be done in two phases. In the first phase, claims worth Rs 730 crore were passed, of which September alone accounted for Rs 400 crore. The second phase will be conducted in the first two weeks of October when the remaining cases will be examined, they added.

These claims were processed by the defence accounts department, which maintains the pay accounts of all JCOs and ORs of the Indian Army. The department has 48 pay and account offices (PAO) across India, which are responsible for paying the arrears to the soldiers within a limited time frame.

The campaign involved close coordination between the Joint CGDA (Grievances), who set up camps in all PAOs, and the records offices of the Army, who verified the correctness of the claims, following which the PAOs paid the arrears.

It is learnt that to execute the task, a war room was also established by the CGDA and cases were being monitored closely.

Sources claimed that the exercise had benefited a large number of JCOs and ORs and would continue in the future as well.

(Edited by Richa Mishra)