There is a strange and interesting churning taking place in the Army wherein middle rung officers are slowly but relentlessly taking up causes which impact the rank and file in the Indian Army. Unlike the yesteryears when the ‘senior lot’ use to fight for the rights of the rank and file under their command, today the middle rung officers are taking up cudgels on behalf of their brothers in arms. These silent warriors have steped out of their comfort zones with making any noise and have taken bull by the horns.  Three most prominent and recent examples are of Col Mukul Dev (Judge & Advocate General branch) who has been fighting for getting ‘Non Functional Up gradation’ for Armed forces officers, Lt Col P K Choudhary (Army Supply Corps) who has been fighting for an alleged discriminatory ‘Command Exit Model’ which is tilted in favour of Infantry and Artillery officers and Lt Col Sandeep Ahlawat (Armoured Corps) who took up the case and filed an RTI for seeking information on non provisioning of mint issue medals which led to the apathy/lack of accountability of MoD coming to public domain.

 Col Mukul Dev has been instrumental in taking up the legal battle to Supreme court for Grant of Non Functional Upgradation to the Armed forces officers. All group ‘A’ officers of the Government of India are given non functional upgradation however only Armed forces officers were unceremoniously left out of its ambit due to some bizzare reason which is bereft of logic.

Lt Col P K Choudhary of ASC had  challenged the faulty system of ‘Command Exit Model’ which had divided the Indian Army on the lines of arms and services. It was Lt Col P K  Choudhary who took it upon himself to get justice for the officers who stood to loose from this  model as it was partisan to say the least. It was due to his protracted battle in the Supreme Court that the Indian Army was forced to release 141 vacancies of Col. His dogged efforts resulted in 141 officers picking up Colonel’s rank who otherwise were passed over  ( this issue ideally should have been taken up by their respective Colonels of the Regiments who are Lt Gen rank officers and it is an absolute irony that all of them had retired from their last ranks with PVSMs/AVSMS or both).

In a recent case an Armoured Corps officer named Lt Col Sandeep Ahlawat  relentlessly persued the case of non provisioning of mint issued medals by the Directorate of Military Regulation and Forms in MoD. DMR&F immediately closed its flank and in order to appease the officer released his medal immediately. The officer refused to take the medal out of turn and asked DMR&F to first issue medals to all wait listed Officers, JCOS and OR of Indian Army in fact the officer filed and RTI through his counsel which led to uneartning of a startling truth that since last nine years MoD has not issued medals to Armed Forces personal and our soldiers are buying fake medals from local markets located next to military cantonments. Our sources in the MoD have confirmed that the officer is planning to file a PIL in Delhi High Court.

It is nobody’s case to mention that even the Generals have not received their mint issued services medals from MoD.

These three officers epitomise raw and selfless courage as not only are they taking on system head on  through a pain full and arduous judicial recourse to correct a wrong but are also in the bargain getting justice for fellow brother in arms. These officers have raised the hopes of scores of fellow officers and soldiers that all is not lost. These three officers have taken up issues which impact  all other officers and jawans and even got partial succes in all the missions they had set out to achieve. Each of these three officers have left no stone unturned to restore the honour of the rank and file of our mighty Army. The so called ‘senior lot’ here in Army Hqs who are otherwise have a sacred task to fight for the dues of the soldiers keep garnering various medals ( the exercise of disbursements of medals in 2015 had become a laughing stock ) and keep embarrassing the Army by getting involved in issue which are not above board. How can we expect that the General will do the bidding of the soldiers that they are commanding if all they do in Army HQ is to garner all  ‘Sewa’ medals .  It augers well for the Army that we still have officers who stand for the right of their fellow soldiers but the moot point remains unanswered as who should get a “Sewa Medal” ‘Vishist’ or ‘Param Vishist’ can be decided later. It is about time the the the Army recognises the true meaning of “Sewa”.