NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE OF PENSIONERS ASSOCIATIONS
13.c Feroze Shah Road,
New Delhi. 110 001
President: Com. Shiv Gopal Misra.
Secretary General: Com. K.KN. Kutty.
Dear Comrades,
As you aware the Government had set up a Committee to go into the feasibility of implementation of 7th CPC recommendations concerning pension determination of pre-2016 pensioners/ family pensioners. The committee itself came into being due to the persistent postulations of the Pension department over the probable difficulties, the Department might encounter in fixing pension entitlement under option No.1 , recommended by 7th CPC. The first formal meeting was held on 6.10.2016 with the JCM Staff Side. Prior to that, we have been informed that the pension department had invited some pensioners Associations for a discussion on the same subject. We are not aware of what ultimately transpired in that meeting.
In the 6th October meeting the official side virtually reiterated what they said in the informal meeting about the difficulties in acting upon the Option No.1. suggested by the 7th CPC, the anomalies it might create etc. To overcome and obviate the difficulties they proposed an alternative. i.e. to extend the pension fixation formula propounded by 5th CPC to all pre 2016 pensioners and family pensioners. Viz. arriving at notional pay in 7th CPC by applying the formula for pay revision for serving employees in each Pay Commission and consequent pension fixation)
We have annexed the full text of minutes of the meeting of 6th October 2016. The minutes as you know well, can not reflect the entire gamut of discussions at the meeting. The Staff Side had made out the following points during the discussions.
(a) Even assuming that in about 18% of the cases service Books might not be available, it cannot be the reason to conclude that implementation of option No. 1 is infeasible. In fact it construes that in 82% of the cases, the service books are available and for that reason alone, the option suggested by the 7th CPC is to be acted upon. Moreover, the Staff Side also said that hardily 40% of pensioners are likely to opt for option No. 1 . In that case, only in 7% of the cases the non availability of Service Books will arise.
(b) As the Government has accepted the recommendation (as indicated in the Notification issued), what is required by the Committee is only to examine the feasibility thereof.
(c) There are various other documents on which the Government can rely upon like the Gradation list,(Seniority list), Pay Bill, Establishment file etc. The Gradation list, the staff side added contains all information. Including the date of promotion of the concerned individual to that grade.
(d) Staff Side also agreed that acting upon option No.1 will bring about certain anomalies and the same must be addressed.
(e) The depressed pension entitlement of those who retired without promotion, or who suffered stagnation in service, for no fault of theirs, especially the Group C and Group D employees must be appreciated.
(f) The Staff Side said that they wholeheartedly welcome the alternative proposal i.e. extension of the 5th CPC pension fitment formula to all pre-2016 pensioners as that had been their demand in the memorandum submitted to the 7th CPC itself.
(g) The staff side however, reminded the members of the Committee that the extension of the 5th CPC pension fitment formula had been the demand of the pensioners and the staff side before the 6th CPC. It was rejected on the specious plea of higher financial outflow.
(h) nIn the light of the anomalies that might arise in accepting the 7th CPC recommendation of Option No. 1, it is better, that the Government offers the same as third option, to be chosen by the pensioners on the basis of whichever is beneficial to them.
(i) At the end of the discussion, the staff side said that they would cause consultation with all stake holders and will express their firm view at the next meeting which was stated for 17th October, 2016.
In the brief period that was available, the Staff Side did cause consultation with various Pensioners Association and Federations and Associations of Serving employees. That apart, the undersigned had a detailed discussion with Com. B.C. Maheswari, General Secretary Bharath Pensioners Samaj, one of the biggest pensioners organization in the country.
The staff Side met yesterday evening and the matter was further discussed at length with the feedback, it had received from various organizations as also from the Government. It came to the inescapable conclusion that replacement of Option No.1. by the alternate suggestion put forth by the Committee would harm the interest of quite a large number of pensioners/family pensioners, especially those who had retired prior to 1996. The meeting also appreciated the fact that the implementation of Option No.1. will bring about a situation of anomalies in pension entitlement especially for those pensioners, who got their promotion at the fag end of their career. They are likely to get lesser pension when compared to a pensioner who retired from a lower grade. Taking all these into consideration, the Staff Side decided that the alternative suggested by the Committee must be a third alternative which might reduce the gravity of anomaly and would bring about a better pension entitlement for certain section of the pensioners. Accordingly, the decision has been conveyed to the Committee (both orally and in writing). The copy of the letter the Staff Side has written is appended hereto.
During the discussions on 17th it has become almost clear that the Committee would go ahead with the proposal of the Pension Department denying Option No.1. which would affect adversely the pension entitlement of a significant number of pensioners/family pensioners. Perhaps it would be the first occasion that the Government chooses to reject a recommendation made by the Pay Commission. With this rejection, the scenario would be complete in as much as this would be the first Government which has rejected every suggestion of the employees and Pensioners in implementation of the Pay Commission recommendation. It has gone a step further in as much as it has tried to influence the 7th CPC at the fag end of its tenure to ensure that the minimum wage quantum is reduced. It may please be noted that the only one recommendation of the 7th CPC which came in for some appreciation amongst the various stake holders was the Pension fitment formula i.e. Option No.1. By its rejection, it can be concluded without difficulty that there is nothing in the 7thCPC by virtue of which the employees and pensioners could state that some improvement has been effected in their service/career conditions.
It must be our immediate endeavour to bring about a joint platform of all pensioners organizations to chalk out a future course of action in pursuance of the demand of implementation of option No.1.
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