Group Captain Surya Dev Pathak was commissioned in the Accounts branch of the Air Force on 1 Dec 50. During his twenty seven years of service, he has held a variety of responsible appointments and displayed tact, initiative, drive and devotion to duty, of a very high caliber.

In November, 1975, he was specially selected to take over as the first secretary of the Air Force Group Insurance Society, an entirely new field of activity for an Accountant Officer. Air Force was the pioneer in starting the scheme in the Armed Forces and in the absence of previous knowledge, experience and reliable data/statistics had to face numerous hurdles. Group Captain Pathak, however, applied himself to this new and challenging assignment with a very high sense of responsibility and dedication and in collaboration with the Life Insurance Corporation of India, got the scheme started.

Within one year of existence of this scheme, with his skilful management, he made it possible to delink the scheme form LIC thus resulting in a saving of Rs. 12 lacs to the Society, which was transferred to the members in the form of increased Survival Benefits and reduced "Flying Extra Premium". Again in early 1978, through a scheme of re-insurance with banks, he was instrumental in augmenting the yield on Society's investments by Rs. 7 lakhs per annum.

Encouraged by tangible results and the support of members, he formulated a new scheme in April 1978, which envisaged enhanced life cover, better survival benefits, cover to NCs (E) and disability insurance for rehabilitation of disabled personnel. The last mentioned benefit is another "First" on the map of Group Insurance in the Armed Forces.

The brilliance, skilful managements, zeal, hard work and dedication to service displayed by Group Captain Pathak, in bringing this major welfare measure to its present stature, have been of a very high order. Rashtrapati is pleased to award Vishisht Seva Medal to Group Captain Surya Dev Pathak.

Air Cmde V Shanmugham (9250) Accounts was commissioned in Accounts Branch on 23 Dec 64 and since then has held various appointments with distinction such as Command Accountant Officer, Joint Director Accounts at Air HQ, Controller of Accounts in the Ministry of Labour and presently working as Director, AF Group Insurance.

During his stay at AFCAO, he was responsible for revamping and fine tuning of manual as well as computerised Pay Accounting system of over 1.5 lakh personnel of Air Force. As a Controller of Accounts in the Ministry of Labour, he was responsible for the budgeting, enforcement of financial canons and compilation of 350 crore allotment.

Air Cmde Shanmugham took over the task of managing an AFGIS corpus of Rs. 450 crores during Dec 96, at a crucial stage when all the running schemes were under review for enhancement and the portfolio management was under critical scrutiny for its non performing assets. He took over the responsibility with zeal and enthusiasm, despite various constraints. After due deliberation and review he gave a final shape for launching the revised/enhanced schemes wef 01 Apr 97. On the other hand due to his untiring efforts coupled with deftness, he has brought down the state of non performing assets to a manageable figure.

For his exemplary leadership, unflinching devotion to duty, the President is pleased to award "Vishisht Seva Medal" to Air Commodore V. Shanmugham.

Air Commodore Mohan Lal Verma (11708) Accts was commissioned on 23 Jun 1968 and is presently working as Director, Air Force Group Insurance Society since 29 Jun 1998. During his service career the Air Officer has held many important appointments like Command Accounts Officer, Deputy Director Financial Planning, Senior Accounts Officer of Major flying Bases. He has also served as Chief Instructor in Nigeria in Accounts Faculty. He is law graduate and graduate of College of Defence Management. For his devotion to duty and distinguished service he has been commended twice by AOC-in-C and once by Chief of Air Staff.

As Director AFGIS, the officer has the onerous responsibility of providing insurance cover for the entire personnel of the Indian Air Force. After taking over as Director AFGIS, he introduced proactive managerial strategies to ensure recovery of dues from Non-Performing Assets. Vigorous, innovative and multi pronged strategies adopted by the Air Officer resulted in recovery of a sum of Rs. 30 crore, which has not only reduced the non-performing assets but also enhanced the earnings of the Society. To intensify efforts in this direction, he constituted a recovery team, which has further improved the results in this Key Result Area. Simultaneously, necessary shift in the investment strategy was carried out in keeping with the times.

Introduction of schemes for Computer loans, conveyance loans and liberalisation of House Building Advance by the society under his direction not only ensured safety of funds but also enriched the quality of life and satisfaction level of all Air Force personnel. With exemplary professionalism, foresight and commitment, he not only revised various ongoing welfare schemes but also successfully devised and launched Post Retirement Insurance Scheme-99 for retired personnel. He also undertook the task of revising the IAFP 3601-Administration and Management of Air Force Group Insurance Society for the benefit of all the serving as well as retired personnel.

For distinguished service of a high order, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Air Commodore Mohan Lal Verma.