Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 31

In what may change the working conditions for Lt Colonel-level officers of the Indian Army, fresh assessment parameters are being drawn up for those who have been overlooked at the rank.

The suggested changes, if implemented, can impact future postings; decide whether an officer can be given a “time-scale” promotion as Colonel or not; decide if the officer can be sent on deputation to other places or even get study leave.

There are a few thousand officers at the Lt Colonel level who have been superseded or overlooked. These “non-empanelled” officers can’t be “selected” for higher ranks like Colonel and thence upwards like Brigadier, Maj General or Lt General.

An officer gets selected as Colonel around the age of 35-36 at the rank of Lt Colonel. Those who don’t make the cut — only 25 per cent get selected — get the only available opportunity i.e. “time-scale” elevation to rank of Colonel after having served for a specified period.

This happens by the time an officer is around 47-48 years of age. The rank of Colonel is the highest a “non-empanelled” officer gets.

An officer who joins the Army gets promoted automatically to the rank of Lt Colonel in 13 years of service. The selections start from thereon. There are about 39,000 officers in the Army and only 4,000 or so are Colonels.

The Military Secretary branch on October 17 sent out a letter seeking comments of all Army Commands on whether such a new assessment form be made part of annual confidential reports (ACRs) or not.