Already hit by shortage of officers, the armed forces are facing a sudden spurt in exodus of senior ranks, apparently not satisfied with the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

A total of 107 army, navy and air force officers have put in their papers seeking premature exit in the last fortnight after the Pay Commission submitted its report on March 24.

"There could be more exits as officers in the ranks of Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel and even higher are not happy with the mere 15 per cent hike recommended by the Pay Commission", a senior officer said.

In normal circumstances, the army processes about 2-4 pre-mature retirement papers a week. But in the past two to three weeks, the figure has jumped to almost 10-15 officers, he said.

This exodus is hitting the armed forces with the army already facing a shortage of more than 11,000 officers, the navy about 3,000 and the air force about 6,000.

This shortage of officers is being sorely felt at the operational level where formations are now operating with just 12-14 officers as against a sanctioned strength of 25 officers.

In a new measure, the army has enforced a system whereby non-commissioned officers and junior commissioned officers are taking on role of officers, especially in insurgency-affected deployments.

Concerned over the developments, the three services chiefs have already submitted detailed modification proposals to the government seeking redressal in stagnation being faced by officers of the rank of majors and colonels.

In their proposals to the Ministry of Defence, the armed forces are also seeking a hike from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 in the minimum military service pay for personnel below officer ranks.

They have pointed out anomalies in new pay structure between soldiers and personnel below officer rank and their counterparts in paramilitary forces.

The armed forces also want more running pay bands for officers of the rank of majors, colonels and brigadiers.

The three service chiefs Admiral Sureesh Mehta, General Deepak Kapoor and Air Chief Marshal F H Major have had two extensive meetings with Defence Minister A K Antony.

The minister, in an unprecedented step, had arranged a face-to-face meeting between the key Pay Commission members and the top brass.

Later, the minister assured the Services that the government was open to review of the financial package recommended by the Commission provided anomalies pointed out were bonafide.