Rajya Sabha passes Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control & Discipline) Bill – 2023

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha, on August 8, 2023, passed the Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control & Discipline) Bill - 2023. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 04, 2023. The bill seeks to empower Commander-in-Chief and Officer-in Command of Inter-Services Organisations (ISOs) with all disciplinary and administrative powers in respect of the personnel serving in or attached to such organisations.

Initiating the bill in the Upper House, defence minister Rajnath Singh described the bill as necessary to strengthen the Armed Forces in view of the global security scenario, emphasising that only through better jointness and integration can the military move forward towards securing national interests. The bill will ensure better coordination among the three services and bolster the integrated structure, he said, assuring the House that it will prove to be a milestone in the path to India's military reforms.

The minister pointed out that today’s warfare is no longer conventional, but has become technology and network centric, which makes it even more important for the three Services to work with greater coordination to face future challenges faced by the country.

This Bill empowers the Commander-in-Chief, Officer-in-Command or any other officer specially empowered in this behalf by the Central Government with all the disciplinary and administrative powers in respect of personnel serving in or attached to their Inter-Services Organisations for the maintenance of discipline and proper discharge of their duties, irrespective of the service to which they belong to.

The ‘ISO Bill-2023’ is essentially an Enabling Act and it does not propose any change in the existing Service Acts/Rules/Regulations which are time-tested and have withstood judicial scrutiny over the last six decades or more. Service personnel when serving in or attached to an Inter-Services Organisation will continue to be governed by their respective Service Acts. What it does is to empower Heads of Inter-Services Organisations to exercise all the disciplinary and administrative powers as per the existing Service Acts/Rules/Regulations, irrespective of the service they belong to.