Com.K.G.Jayaraj hoisted the flag at P & T House, Thiruvananthapuram at 10 AM on 21-10-2016. He also spoke briefly highlighting the formation and growth of the organisation as a mighty fighting pensioners association which enabled it to achieve significant gains including 78.2% IDA merger along with annulment of 60:40 condition. He appealed to strengthen AIBDPA further at all level to meet the challenges before us.

2016_10_18-cghs-estt

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The 4th biennial conference of Kozhikode district has been held at Com.M.P.Kunhanandan Nagar ( Nalanda Auditorium ), Kozhikode on 19-10-2016. The open session was inaugurated by Com.Thottathil Ravindran, Kozhikode Mayor. Com.K.Prabhakaran, District President presided. Coms. N.Guruprasad, Circle Secretary, A.V.Viswanathan (AIPRPA), M.Vijayakumar & K.V.Jayarajan (BSNLEU), P. Kunhiraman (CGPA) K.Damodaran, ACS, Balan Punnassery, Circle Org Secretary addressed. Com.K.G.Sanjeevan, District Secretary welcomed and Com.K.Sarojini, Circle Vice President proposed vote of thanks.

Com.K.G.Sanjeevan, District Secretary and Com.M.K.Prabhakaran, Treasurer presented the biennial report and audited accounts in the subject session and were adopted after discussion.

Office bearers have been elected unanimously with Com.M.P.Velayudhan (President), Com.P.V.Chandrasekharan (District Secretary) and Com.M.K.Prabhakaran (Treasurer) 

The 4th Biennial District Conference of Malappuram, Kerala was held on 18-10-2016 at NGO Union hall, Malappuram. Com.P.K.Muraleedharan, Circle Convener, NFPE inaugurated the conference with an effective speech covering the current developments. Com.P.T.M.A.Jaleel, District President presided. Coms. N.Guruprasad, Circle Secretary, M.K.Prabhakaran (BSNLEU) and Chellappan (AIPRPA) addressed.

The biennial report and audited accounts presented by Coms. P.M.Madhavan, District Secretary and P.Ramachandran, Treasurer were adopted after discussion.

Office bearers were elected unanimously with Com. P.T.M.A.Jaleel (President), Com. P. M. Madhavan (District Secretary) and Com. P.Ramachandran (Treasurer)

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 7^th 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 7^th 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 6^th 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 7^th 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 5^th CPC to all pre 2016 pensioners  and family pensioners. Viz. arriving at notional pay in 7^th 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 6^th 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 7^th 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 5^th CPC pension fitment formula to all pre-2016 pensioners  as that had been their demand in the memorandum submitted to the 7^th CPC itself.

(g)   The staff side  however, reminded the members of the Committee that the  extension of the 5^th CPC pension fitment formula had been the demand of the pensioners and the staff side before the 6^th 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 7^th 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 17^{th  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 17^th  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 7^th 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 7^th 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 7^thCPC 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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Allowing Option-I for Pension Fixation is found feasible – NCJCM Staff Side

Shiva Gopal Mishra
Secretary

Ph.: 23382286
National Council (Staff Side)
13-C. Ferozshah Road, New Delhi – 110001
Mail : nc.jcm.np@gmail.com

NC-JCM-2016/7th CPC (Pension)

October 17, 2016

The Secretary,
Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare,
Govt. of India,
Sardar Patel Bhawan, New Delhi.

Dear Sir,

Sub: 7th CPC recommendation. Pay determination in the case of Pre-2016 pensioners. Option No. I Examination of feasibility.

Ref: Minutes of the meeting of the Committee in F.No.38/37/2016 P&PW(A) Dated 10th October, 2016

We refer to the discussions held On 6.10.2016 in matter of feasibility Of acting upon the 7thy CPC recommendations (Option No. I) in the matter of pension computation and the minutes circulated under cover of the letter cited. At the outset, we would like to slate that the members of the Staff Side, Who were associated with the discussions, gained an impression that the Pension Department would not like to implement the recommendation of the 7th CPC concerning Option No.1 provided to the pensioners in determination or the revised pension. As has been pointed out by us during the discussions on 6t October, the Government has accepted the said recommendation with a rider of its feasibility of implementation. The attempt, therefore, must be to explore the and means of implementing the said recommendation, which benefits a large number of retired personnel, especially those retired prior to 1996. It is, therefore. highly doubtful how any alternate proposal in replacement of the accepted recommendation would be tenable.

We have the matter considered by various Pensioners Associations as also the Federations of the Serving employees. We enumerate here under the feed- back we have received:

Even according to the exercise carried out by the Pension department, only in of the cases, the service Books are reported to have been available. Conversely it means that in 82% of the cases the records are available to operationalize Option No.1. Besides, we find that on the basis of a random scrutiny that only 40% (Percentage varies from Department to Department depending upon the then prevailing career prospects) generally will opt to have pension fixation under the provisions of option No.I. It Will work out to hardly 7% of the cases, where Service Books might not be available. As has been pointed out in the last meeting Gradation/Seniority list is maintained for each Cadre by the Concerned Department, where the date of promotion to the cadre inter alia is indicated. The said gradation list will reveal many other details viz the date or birth, dale of entry into government service, date of promotion to the cadre, whether eligible for next promotion, due or superannuation cte. This apart there are other documents maintained by the Department, which will come in handy for verification of the clam, viz, the pay bills. Establishment files containing promotion orders etc. In other words it is possible to the claim of my individual pensioner or family and take appropriate decision. In other words, there is no infeasibility question at all. It was also pointed out by many organisations that retention period of Service Books in all major Departments or the Government of India is 5 years after the death of the Pensioner/Family Pensioner and not 3 years after retirement as indicated by the Official side at the meeting. This apart, it may also he noted that the option has to be exercised by the concerned individual pensioner and he has to make a formal application to the concerned authorities. He is bound to substantiate his claim with documentary proof, whatever that is available with him.

As was pointed out by some of us in the last meeting, the implementation of an accepted recommendation on the specious plea of infeasibility will pave way for plethora of litigation. Apart from the administrative diffculties, the Pension Department would be saddled With if such litigation arise, it would be sad and cruel on the part of the Government to compel the pensioners to bear huge financial burden to pursue their case before the courts of law.

In view of this the Staff side is of the firm view that the Government issue orders for implementation of Option No.I as there is no room for stating that recommendation is impossible to be implemented for those who are benefited by the said option.

We are aware that certain anomalies are bound to arise on implementation of option No.I. Anomalies have arisen in the past too. What is needed is to examine those anomalies and ensure thal those are genuinely addressed.

It may be noted that even under the present dispensation, no two Govemment servants are entitled for the same pension despite they being retired on from the same grade on the same day. The promotion in lower cadres especially Group B, C and D had been and between a decade back in many departments and continues to be the situation in certain organisations or the Government of India. The vacancy based promotion system, one must admit, operates in a fortuitous manner. For no fault of the individual employee, he/she may retire without getting a whereas his colleague due to sheer luck might get the promotion at the fag end of the career.

The case of those employees retired prior to the advent of ACP or MACP is really pathetic. Thet had to remain in certain departments in the same cadres for years together. “Tuey are in receipt of a paltry amount of pension though there is nothing distinguishable in their service careers for such deprivation. To deny them the benefit provided by the 7th CPC on the specious plea that the relevant records are not available with the Government may not only be unreasonable but also will not stand the test of judicial scrutiny.

As have stated in the meeting, the alternative suggestion put forth by the official side is a welcome feature , for it might be step in the right direction to remove the anomaly pointed out by the official side when Option No-I is implemented and will benefit those pensioners who got their promotion the end of their career. It is also likely to bring about certain extent of parity, if not full, between the old and the pensioners. However it cannot be in replacement of the recommendation in respect or Option No.1 made by the 7th CPC. The alternate suggestion of the Pension Department may be offered as another option to the pensioners who are not benefited either by Option No.1 or 2 recommended by the 7th CPC. Such an option will eliminate to a great extent the anomalies that might arise from the implementation of option No.1.

In fine, we request that:

The Pensioners/family pensioners may be allowed to choose any one of the following three options;

(a) 2.57 time of the pension if that is beneficial.

(b) Option No.1. Recommended by the 7th CPC, if that is beneficial for them.

(c) To determine the Pension on the basis of the suggestion placed by the Pension Department on 6.10.2016 i.e. extension of the benefit of pension determination recommended by the 5th CPC (viz. arriving at notional pay in the 7th CPC by applying formula for pay revision for serving employees in each Pay Commission and consequent pension fixation) to all pre-2016 Pensioners/family pensioners, if that becomes beneficial to them.

Yours Faithfully,
sd/-
(Shiva Copal Mishra)
Secretary