New Delhi, September 29
The government today cleared the constitution of an armed forces tribunal that will exclusively deal with the service related problems and grievances of the officials of the Army, Navy and the Air Force.

As part of the efforts to meet the shortage of pilots in the Indian Air Force (IAF), the government also cleared the proposal for extension of the service tenure of woman pilots and navigators of transport aircraft and helicopters from 10 to 14 years on an optional basis.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the approval for the setting up of the armed forces tribunal. The tribunal would deal with appeals against court martial verdicts and grievances related to conditions of service including promotions, confirmations and appointments.

The tribunal would be formed on the lines of the Central Administrative Tribunal and its composition would be incorporated in the Armed Forces Tribunal Bill 2005 which will have to be passed by Parliament.

After the meeting of the Cabinet, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here that the legislation would require amendments to the Army Act, Navy Act and the Air Force Act. He said the decision had been taken in the light of a Supreme Court directive for setting up a quasi-judicial tribunal. The tribunal was mooted during the tenure of former Defence Minister George Fernandes to prevent senior military officials from going to civil courts for redressal of their grievances. Some of such cases have also been in the media attention, specially recently with the judiciary ensuring promotion for some such officers, who had been ignored for promotion in the normal process.

The legal departments of the armed forces and experts of the defence ministry conducted thorough studies on the shape to be given to the armed forces tribunal over the past few years.