'Memoirs and Recollections of An Officer of the Indian Political Service' [‎66r] (131/156)

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c*u
to England to embark on new careers - if they could find them. Remember also, that
this was mid 1947 when the aftermath of the war had left many thousands (if not millions)
of men on the employment market. Moreover, we old India hands were latecomers.
During the last few months, many British officials in India had formed themselves into
groups and associations to insist upon their pension rights and the grant of adequate
compensation for loss of career in circumstances over which they had no control. It
was eventually decided that H.M.G. would make themselves responsible for the pensions we
had earned whilst serving in India. In the event, they were astute enough to finance
this liability by retaining a large capital sum from the sterling balances or debts
which they had incurred to the Indian Government for services rendered during the war.
But, compensation was a much more thorny problem. The Indian as well as the Pakistani
political leaders, firmly dissociated themselves from any responsibility for this.
They argued - in my view with considerable justification - that the long term policy
of H.M.G. towards India had been known to all of us as the eventual grant of independence.
Now that that moment had been reached, it was for H.M.G. and not them to accept
liabilityj^oompensating their expatriate officials who would still be serving when the
transfer of power came about. It was many months before a solution was reached. H.M.G.
were eventually compelled to shoulder the liability but they fought hard to whittle it
down. It sounds very niggardly now, but the maximum in the scale of compensation which
was established in respect of years of service, was a lump sum payment of £8,000
(I myself was entitled to this maximum). It was however, added that any official who
was offered and accepted permanent pensionable posts in any of the services controlled
by H.M.G. would forego the whole of his compensation.