EXPLAINED: What is the inter-services organization bill?

On August 8, the Rajya Sabha assented to a bill that confers the officer-in-command and the commander-in-chief of the inter-services organizations with administrative and disciplinary powers over personnel from the distinct services serving in them.

The introduction of the inter-services organization (Command, Control, and Discipline) bill, 2023 was done in the Upper House amid an opposition members' walkout that asked for a discussion on the violence in Manipur. The bill was passed on August 4 by the Lok Sabha. It was recommended by a parliamentary panel that the bill must be passed sans any amendments.

The bill

The bill attempts to confer the Officer in Command and the Commander-in-Chief of the Inter-DServices Organizations with every administrative and disciplinary power, with the purpose of empowering them to take decisions relating to personnel serving such organizations.

Currently, all the Navy, IAF, and Army personnel are actually governed through their service-specific acts.

इस बिल का उद्देश्य हमारे सैन्य बलों में निहित अनुशासन की महान परंपरा को और अधिक मजबूती देना है। pic.twitter.com/SiQSlINl3b

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 8, 2023

The service personnel attached to or actually serving in the Inter-Services Organization will actually remain to be administered by their respective Service Acts. However, enabling such a bill will actually lead to empowering the heads of the organizations to exercise administrative and disciplinary powers according to the existing service acts, and the rules and regulations relating to it, no matter from which service they belong to.

The bill gives power to the central government to set up an Inter-Services Organization, thereby strengthening the formation of integrated theatre commands, which is actually a significant military reform.

Rajnath Singh, Union Defense Minister, on Tuesday, stated that the bill will help in enhanced coordination among the defense forces, and also bring forward enhanced integration in the military.

Can anything alter the enactment of the bill?

The leaders of the present-day inter-services organizations currently lack such powers and therefore, any administrative or disciplinary action against the personnel related to these organizations will actually have to be referred to their respective services.

The Strategic Forces Command, the joint training establishments like the National Defense College, and the Andaman and Nicobar Command are also included in the inter-services organizations. In case the bill gets enacted, it will make sure the sustainability of enhanced discipline in the inter-services establishments by the leaders, along with quicker disposal of cases of indiscipline. This, in return, will be saving time and public resources.

Is the bill leading to theaterization?

The defense minister clearly said that this would be actually a premature stage to answer this. However, he said that in case theaterization occurs, this act, via a normal notification, will be effective on theatre commands as well. Theaterization is an important military reform that actually attempts to roll the individual commends of the services into a tri-services organization with a military aim that is common.