GS Paper II & III
News Excerpt:
The Government has notified the Inter-Services Organisations (ISOs) (Command, Control, and Discipline) Act through a Gazette notification, which will be enforced with effect from May 10, 2024.
About the news:
- The act was passed by both Houses of Parliament during the Monsoon Session of 2023 and received the president's assent on August 15, 2023.
- With the notification, the Act will empower the Heads of ISOs and pave the way for expeditious disposal of cases, avoid multiple proceedings, and be a step towards greater integration and jointness among the armed forces personnel.
Rationale behind the Inter-Services Organisations Act:
- At present, armed forces personnel are governed by the provisions of three separate laws for the three services — the Air Force Act, 1950; the Army Act, 1950; and the Navy Act, 1957.
- Only an officer of the same service holds disciplinary powers over persons governed by the respective Act.
- As far as inter-services organisations are concerned, this directly impacts command, control and discipline.
- Since the commander-in-chief of a joint services command and the officer-in-command of any other inter-services organisation are not empowered with disciplinary powers, any person accused of an offence has to be sent back to the parent service unit for any disciplinary or administrative action.
- For example, if an Air Force officer commits an offence at the Defence Services Staff College, then the Academy Commandant— who is a three-star rank officer of the Indian Army— can’t initiate action against said individual. Instead, the officer is repatriated to their parent Air Force unit, and action, if any, will follow under the Air Force Act 1950.
- The existing framework is time-consuming and involves financial costs to move the personnel. Proceedings become even more cumbersome when the disciplinary or administrative proceedings arise from the same facts and circumstances but involve personnel from different services.
Key provisions of the act:
- While existing inter-services organisations will be deemed to have been constituted under the act, it seeks to empower the central government to set up an inter-services organisation by notification. This can include a joint services command — a key feature of the theaterisation plan of the armed forces — comprising units and personnel drawn from the three armed forces and persons of other forces attached to such a body. The commander-in-chief or the officer-in-command will be the head.
- The Central Government will have the power to issue directions to each inter-services organisation on national security, or general administration matters if it considers it necessary and expedient in the public interest.
- All disciplinary and administrative powers regarding personnel serving or attached to an existing or future inter-services organisation will lie with the commander-in-chief, the officer-in-command, or any other officer specially empowered by the central government.
- Personnel serving in or attached to an inter-services organisation will continue to be governed by their respective service Acts.
Significance of the act:
- The government expects the act to pave the way for “tangible benefits” such as expeditious disposal of cases, saving of time and public money by avoiding multiple proceedings and greater integration amongst armed forces personnel.
- The Act empowers Commanders-in-Chief and Officers-in-Command of ISOs to exercise control over Service personnel serving under them to effectively maintain discipline and administration without disturbing the unique service conditions of each Service.
- The Act comes ahead of the planned reorganisation of the Indian military into integrated theatre commands. It is essentially an ‘enabling Act’ and does not propose any change in the existing Service Acts/Rules/Regulations.
How will it affect the tri-services theaterisation plan?
- The Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Act’s notification comes amid deliberations on the theatre command system that integrates the three services' capabilities.
- Each theatre command will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. All the units will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.
Conclusion:
The act can ensure better management of theatre commands once they are operationalised. However, the difference in the rules of the service Acts regarding justice delivery for the same offence can emerge as a cause for concern.
