Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 28

Aiming to put a lid on the raging controversy over parity of ranks in forces vis-a-vis civilian officers, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has decided to set up a three-member committee that will “holistically” study the matter to resolve it.Even though the Ministry of Defence yesterday issued a clarification saying no rank parity had been disturbed and it was simply reiterating earlier orders issued between 1991 and 2005, the forces did not accept the argument. Media reports pointed to a decision of the Group of Ministers in 2009 which was ratified by the Union Cabinet. This decision fixed a different rank parity than the one mentioned in the MoD letter dated October 18 from where the controversy erupted.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Parrikar was informed by an aide yesterday that the rank-parity issue had not been addressed totally as some facts needed to be studied further. Parrikar, not completely satisfied with the turn of events in the past week, decided to set up a committee that would take 10 days to study all documents, sources said.The MoD would study the matter ‘holistically’ and arrive at the final decision to end this long-festering issue, sources added.  Parrikar is learnt to have been unhappy at how the seemingly bureaucratic matter had festered at a time when the Army was being lauded for the surgical strikes and readying itself for a militarily-tough winter along the Line of Control.As per an MoD letter issued on October 18, a Major General was equated to a principal director; a Brigadier with a director and a Colonel with a joint director. In 2009, the Cabinet had okayed that a Lt Col (lower in rank than Colonel) would be equal to joint director.