§ 11 and 12. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Secretary of State for India (1) in view of the fact that on all previous occasions when increments in pay and pension have been sanctioned by the Secretary of State for India these were given without distinction to both military and civil officers of all branches of the Army, including the Indian Medical Department, why the 1929 revised rates of pay for the Indian Medical Department have been sanc- 1645 tioned for those in military employ only and have not been given to those loaned for civil medical employment in the provinces; whether he is aware that, although the Madras Government has sanctioned the increased rates of pay to its civil Indian Medical Department officers, the other provinces, as also the State railways and the Government of India, have refused it to their Indian Medical Department civil medical officers; will he state why such distinction has been made in the Indian Medical Department; and whether he is prepared to take steps to inquire into the matter and remedy this position;
(2) whether, seeing that the Indian Medical Department (military assistant surgeon branch) is an all-India service under the administration of the Government of India and the control of the Secretary of State as regards pay and pensions, he will state whether its officers are recruited in all cases under the same terms of agreement, and whether it is a cadred service; and, seeing that those of its officers whose services are loaned to provincial governments are, like similar Indian Medical Service officers, considered as the war reserve of the Army (Indian Medical Department), will he consider giving them equal treatment with similar Indian Medical Service officers?
§ Mr. BENNThe assumptions on which these questions are based are not quite accurate. Although the Indian Medical Department has a definite cadre, it is not an all-India service like the Indian Medical Service. Military assistant surgeons are attested as soldiers under the Army Act on first appointment. While they are in military employ their conditions of service are governed by Army regulations; but on transfer to civil employ they come under the control of the civil authorities, who have full power to determine their rates of pay. So far as I am aware, there is some degree of competition for civil employ, and the conditions of service are well understood. In the circumstances I do not feel justified in suggesting to the civil authorities an increase in the rates which they have decided are adequate.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYIs it not the fact that the new pay and pensions of the Indian Medical Depart- 1646 meat sanctioned by him were for the whole unit; that there was no difference between military and civilian?
§ Mr. BENNNo, the position of the Indian Medical Department and that of Indian Medical Service are not quite comparable.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that the Indian Medical Service is entirely recruited from Anglo-Indians and domiciled Europeans, and is it not undesirable to leave them with any sense of grievance?
§ Mr. BENNI cannot make out whether the hon. and gallant Member is speaking of the Indian Medical Service or the Indian Medical Department. They are separate organisations, and as I have said the conditions are not comparable.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYWill my right hon. Friend receive any representations on the matter?