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NCCPA NEWS  LETTER

INCOMETAX PENSIONERS FEDERATION

NEW DELHI

E MAIL: itpfchq@gmail.com

Website address:itpfchq.blogspot.com

Manishinath Bhawan,

A/2/95 Rajouri Garden

‘New Delhi. 110 027.

18^th October, 2016

Dear Comrades,

               Because of the pooja festival and ensuing Diwali, the committee which was constituted in our last meeting did not meet this month.  We are proposing its meeting tobe held in the 2^nd week of November, 2016.  I am to inform you certain developments that have taken place in between our last communication and today.  The Committees on allowance and Pension entitlements met during this period.  Besides an informal meeting of the Committee headed by the Additional Secretary, Finance, to look into the grievances of the minimum wage and fitment formula was also held.  An elaborate Note was submitted to the Allowances Committee by the Staff Side of the National Council JCM , which inter alia included the enhancement of Fixed Medical Allowance.  The Staff Side has demanded a meeting of the Committee under the health Secretary.  It might come about without much delay.  We have been requesting our Pensioner comrades to send us a Note over the functioning of the CGHS in their States and their requirement for improvement.  We request all of you to kindly meet, discuss and formulate a Note and send the same to us through e mail prior to 10^th November, 2016, which would help us in preparing brief and agenda for the said meeting.  There was a single point demand that the rates for various hospitalization charges at all stations should be on par with the Delhi rates and the best hospital recognized in each Station who may be offered the Delhi rates.  For certain surgical operations, the Government must fix the rates at a quantum not less than charged by the AIIMS wherever the patient is undergoing such treatment.  Kindly think over these issues and prepare your note.  A comprehensive note will help us in formulating our demand in a cogent and logical manner.

               The Pension Committee met twice during this month. Viz. on 6^th October and 17th October, 2016.  Unlike other Committee, there had been fruitful discussions at the meetings. However, it has become clear that the Pension Department does not want the Option No. 1 is to be implemented at all.  They had been taking this stand right from the beginning.  We had been taking a stand that whatever recommended by the 7^th CPC must be acted upon.  If it brings about any anomaly, the same should be addressed later. It appears that some vested interest at play.  The NCCPA has issued an elaborate circular letter on this subject.  We are reproducing the same in full for the benefit of our members. 

               The NCCPA had been in touch with the Bharath Pensioners Samaj, one of the largest pensioners organisations in the country.  They have concurred with our view on the subject.  We have requested them to take initiative in bringing about all Pensioners organsiations on one single platform for this purpose and chalk out some action programme in the coming months.  We must play a very effective role in those struggles.  As you could see that this Government has unfortunately not accepted any of the suggestions of the employees for improvement of the 7^th CPC recommendations.  They (the Government) had in fact tried their best to factor in their views on the 7^th CPC at the fag end of its tenure, with the result the serving employees got the least rise in their wages in the post independent era.  The one and only recommendation of the 7^th CPC which elicited some appreciation was in respect of the pension fitment formula.  Now the Government will decide on the recommendation of the Pension committee to reject that too.  With that the slate will become blank and clean. 

               We had conveyed to all of you the sad demise of Com. Shambu Prasad of Bihar, who was trying to organize and mobilize the Income tax Pensioners in their State.   It is a great loss for all of us.  He was a very capable leader.  He came into the movement of the Central Government employees, when he was a member of the Central Secretariat Clerks Union.  On inter departmental transfer, which he had to seek because of the domestic compulsion he went over to our Department in Bihar.  He built the employees organization in Bihar  with great difficulties as the socio political situation in Bihar had fragmented any organizational function.  Not only be built up that organization, but made it militant too.  We bow before his eternal contribution to the organized movement of the employees .

               With greetings,

Yours fraternally,

K.K.N. Kutty

Secretary General.

NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE OF PENSIONERS.

13.c Feroze Shah Road,m

 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 state 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^th CPC 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 actions in pursuance of the demand of implementation of  option No.1.   

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Copy of letter in No. NC-NJCM-2016/7^th CPC(Pension) from The  Secretary ,  Staff Side to

The  Secretary (pension)

Department of Pension& Pensioners Welfare,

Govt. of India,

Sardar Patel Bhawan,

New Delhi.

Dear Sir,

                              Sub:       7^th CPC recommendation. Pay determination in the case of

                                             Pre-2016 pensioners. Option No. 1. Examination of feasibility.                                                    Ref:        Minutes of the meeting of the Committee in F.No. 38/37/2016

 P&PW(A)Dated 10^th October, 2016

 We refer to the discussions held on 6.10.2016 in the matter of feasibility of acting upon the 7thy CPC recommendations (Option No. 1) in the matter of pension computation  and the minutes circulated under cover of the letter cited.   At the outset, we would like to state 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 7^th CPC concerning Option No. 1 provided to the Pensioners in determination of the revised pension. As has been pointed out by us during the discussions on 6^th October, the Government has accepted the said recommendation with a rider of its feasibility of implementation.  The attempt, therefore, must be to explore the ways 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 hereunder  the  feed- back we have received:

Even according to the exercise carried out by the Pension department, only in 18% of the cases, the service Books are reported to have been not 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.1. 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 of birth, date of entry into government service, date of promotion to the present cadre, whether eligible for next promotion, date of superannuation etc.  This apart there are several 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 verify the claim of any individual pensioner or family pensioner and take appropriate decision.       In other words, there is no infeasibility question at all.   It was also pointed out by many organisations that the retention period of Service Books in all major Departments of 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  be 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 non- implementation of an accepted recommendation on the specious plea of infeasibility will pave way for plethora of litigation.  Apart from the administrative difficulties, the Pension Department would be saddled with if such litigations 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. 1 as there is no room for stating that the 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.1 Anomalies have arisen in the past too. What is needed is to examine those anomalies and ensure that those are genuinely addressed.

It may  be noted that even under the  present dispensation, no two  Government servants are entitled for the same pension despite they being retired on superannuation from the same grade on the same day. The promotion in lower cadres especially Group B, C and D had been few and far between a decade back in many  departments and continues to be the same  situation in certain organisations of 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 promotion whereas his colleague due to sheer luck might get the promotion at the fag end of the career.  The case of those employees who retired prior to the advent of ACP or MACP is really pathetic.  They had to remain in certain departments in the same cadres for years together. They 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 7^th 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 we have stated in the meeting, the alternative suggestion put forth by the official side  is a  welcome feature , for it might be a step in the right direction to remove the anomaly pointed out by the Official side when  Option No.1 is implemented and will benefit those pensioners who got their promotion at the fag end of their career.. It is also likely to bring about certain extent of parity, if not full, between the old and the present pensioners.    However it cannot be in replacement of the recommendation in respect of Option No.1. made by the 7^th 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 7^th 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 present pension if that is beneficial.

(b)    Option No. 1. Recommended by the 7^th 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 5^th CPC (viz. arriving at notional pay in the 7^th 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. 

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Copy of the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee set up to examine feasibility of implementation of recommendation of Seventh CPC for revision of pension of Pre-2016 pensioners held on 6.10.2016 at Sardar Patel Bhawan, New Delhi.

The 6" Meeting of the Committee for examination of feasibility of implementation of recommendations of Seventh Central Pay Commission for revision of pension of pre-2016 pensioners was held under the Chairmanship of Shri C. Viswanath, Secretary (Pension) on 6.10.2016 at Sardar Patel Bhawan, New Delhi. This meeting was called for seeking the views of the Staff side of JCM on the feasibility of implementation of  the first option for revision of pension of pre 2016 pensioners recommended by the Seventh Central Pay Commission.The following were present from official side:

Sh. Ashok Kumar Dash, Member (Personnel), Department of Posts.

Ms. Santosh, Joint Secretary, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare,

Sh. Rozy Agarwal, Joint CGDA, Ministry of Defence,

Sh.          R.K.       Chaturvedi,             Joint        Secretary,               Implementation      Cell, Department of Expenditure,

Sh. Sanjay Singh, Chief Controller (Pension), CPAO (representing Controller General of Accounts).

Sh. Tanveer Ahmed, Executive Director, Railway Board (representing Member (Staff)).

The following were present from JCM ( staff side):

Shr i Shiv Gopal Mishra, Secretary, JCM.

Shri  Guman Singh, Member

Shri J.R. Bhosale

Shri K.KN. Kutty

Shri C, Shrikumar

Shri R.D. Gupta.

               Welcoming the members of the Committee and the representatives of the JCM (Staff Side) Secretary ( Pension ) requested Additional Secretary(Pension) to make a presentation.

               In her presentation Addl. Secretary Pension brought out the position regarding the requirement of records and the factors which may affect the feasibility of arriving at the notional pay, in Seventh CPC by counting increments in the last scale of pay as recommended by the Pay Commission.  She also mentioned about the anomalies that are likely to arise in the process.  The presentation brought out the methodology adopted by the Committee to examine the feasibility of the first option and the finding of the committee in this regard.  She mentioned that the service records for increment method may not be available in around 18.3 percentage of the cases.  The difficulties in extracting the information from the records and determining the exact number of the increment for revision of pension under first Option were explained. She indicated that the Committee has found that the alternative method of arriving at notional pay in 7^th CPC by applying formula for pay revision for serving employees in each pay commission and giving 50% of this as pension to be beneficial for all pensioners in comparison to the fitment method.

               Thereafter, Secretary Pension requested the members of the JCM staff side for their views  on the feasibility of the first option. 

               The representatives of the JCM Staff Side mentioned that in their representation to the 7^th CPC, they had suggested revision of pension of pre 2006 pensioners by notional pay fixation in each successive pay commission period.  However, the Pay Commission recommended the revision of pension by fixing the notional pay on the basis of the increments earned in the last post. 

               The JCM Staff Side mentioned that the Cabinet has approved revision of pension by the first option(increment method), if its implementation is found feasible after examination by the committee.   They mentioned that in additional to the Service book, or personal file, the details of increments earned can be ascertained from the gradation/seniority list issued by the departments from time to time.  Therefore,  one cannot say that the first option recommended by the Pay Commission is not feasible on the ground of the non availability of records.  In regard to the perceived anomalies, the Staff Side stated that anomalies arose in implementation of the recommendations of all previous pay commissions.  Such anomalies can always be rectified through the mechanism of Anomaly Committee.

               On the alternative method of revision of pension by notional pay fixation  in each Pay Commission the staff Side felt that the pensioners who are likely to get higher benefits by increments method may not accept revision of pension  by pay fixation method.  This may, therefore, lead to litigation.

               After detailed discussion,  the staff side sought time to consider the alternative method of fixation of notional pay in each intervening pay commission for revision of pension as on 1.1.2016 before submitting their final views in this regard.  It was accordingly decided to have another meeting with the JCM staff side on 17.10.2016 at 10.00AM.  The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

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