Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 20

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) today directed the Centre and the Army to consider raising the retirement age of Army officers of the rank of Colonel by two years  to bring them on a par with similarly placed officers in the Navy.Disposing of a bunch of 70 petitions by officers from various arms and services, the tribunal Bench comprising Justice VK Shali and Lt Gen SK Singh asked the Army to review its earlier order fixing the retirement age of Colonel at 54 years.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“We had sought that the retirement age of Colonel be increased by three years to 57 years,” Jyoti Singh, counsel for some of the petitioners said. “The Army, however, had been adamant on keeping the retirement age for Colonel at 54,” she added. The retirement age for Colonel in arms and services, barring minor corps, is 54 years. Officers holding the rank of Commodore/Captain in the Navy retire at 56, while those in the Navy’s education branch retire at 57 years. In the IAF, the retirement age for Group Captain (select) is 54 years in the flying branch and 57 years in some other branches.Family pensionThe MoD has extended the benefit of Liberalised Family Pension to the next of kin of soldiers who die in harness during deployment along LAC and the border with China