Centre plans common law for defence services

“The ministry has received the draft tri-services act, which is under consideration in consultation with the three services,” Antony said detailing the steps the ministry has taken in implementing the earlier recommendations of the standing committee on defence.

The act was approved by the Chief of Staff Committee in 2008 and Principal Personal Officers Committee in 2006.

At the moment, the three services are governed by three separate legislation — the Army Act of 1950, the Air Force Act of 1950 and the Navy Act of 1957.
After the Kargil conflict, the Kargil review committee under security analyst K Subrahmanyam suggested having more ‘jointness’ among the three services including creating Integrated Defence Staff and a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

As the personnel in the three different services are governed by three different legislation, IDS headquarters was entrusted with the task of reviewing the three Acts to come out with a common law for defence services personnel, taking into account the present day requirements and the need for promoting the concept of ‘jointness’ within the services.