INCOMETAX PENSIONERS
FEDERATION
Manishinath
Bhawan
A/2/95
Rajouri Garden
New
Delhi. 110 027.
E
mail: itepfchq@gmail.com
Website:itpfchq.blogspot.com
Dated:
28.3.2017
Dear Comrade,
We send
herewith the NCCPA Circular letter dated 28.3.2017. detailing the crux of the
discussions the JCM. Staff Side had with
the Pension department officials under the chairmanship of the Secretary
Pension. As you are aware, the
Government had set up a committee to go into the grievances of the stake
holders of the NPS, after the 7th CPC had listed the complains in
their report. The discussions centred
round those complaints and as to how to streamline the procedures. Kindly go
through the same in order to understand the gravity of the situation in the
case of those comrades who would be covered under the New Contributory Pension
scheme.
The
Confederation of Central Government employees and workers in association with
the All India State Government Employees Federation would be convening a
convention at Delhi in the month of June, 2016 to discuss the modus operandi of
mobilising the large number of employees behind the demand for scrapping the
contributory scheme and bring back the defined benefit scheme of pension in the
country especially for civil servants.
The details are being worked out and we shall be able to inform you the
details thereof by the 2nd week of April, 2017. The date of the convention is slated to be 10th
June, 2017 and the NCCPA will be represented in the said convention.
In the latest
issue of NCCPA bulletin, which would be in your hands in a few days’ time, you
will see certain items the Staff Side of the JCM National Council introduced
for discussion in the ensuing meeting of the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee meeting is likely to
be held in April, 2017. Kindly go
through the same and if any further items covering the pension entitlement or
the health related matters especially concerning the functioning of the
CGHS are required to be included, please
write to us with a brief explanatory note on each such items.
The NCCPA
National Executive will meet at New Delhi in August, 2017.
The meeting will be hosted by the Nagpur unit of the NCCPA. The sub-
committee of ITPF met at New Delhi on 26.8.2017 under the President ship of our
Patron, Com. Lajpat Rai. After
deliberations, the committee took the following decisions.
1.
A Small committee consisting of
Com. KKN Kutty, Com. Baswanad and Com. Vijay Singh Negi will meet on 10th
April, 2017 and finalise the documents required for applying for registration
with the Registrar of Societies as the requisite number of affiliates
have obtained the registration. The office bearers of the ITPF will submit the
following documents immediately to the CHQ.
Please ensure the said documents reach us before 5th April,
2017.
(a)
Copy of Registration certificate duly signed and
attested by the General Secretary of the affiliate;
(b)
PAN, Aadhar Card (copies) of
the Central Office bearers of the ITPF.,
(c)
Two recent photographs of the
Central Office bearers
(d)
If PAN card is not obtained,
kindly make arrangements to obtain the same . For this purpose, the status may
be shown as Association of Persons.
(e)
Date of birth of the Central
Office bearers of NCCPA.
(f)
Bank Account No., Name of the
Bank, Name of the Brach, MICR and IFSC codes. Of the affiliated Associations.
2.
The Secretary General of ITPF
reported the following developments that have taken place in the interregnum.
(I), The General body meetings of the Mumbai
Unit, Bhopal Unit and Rajasthan units were held on 22nd March, 2017,
25th March, 2017 and 28th March, 2017. The report of the meeting with photographs
would be placed in our website as also in the NCCPA journal.
(ii) The UP ITPA general body meeting will be
held at Lucknow on 8th April, 2017 and Tamilnadu Unit on 23rd
April, 2017.
(iii)The efforts to form the Association in
NWR are on the anvil. Com. President
suggested that the ITPF leaders should go over to Amritsar to get in touch with
the comrades.
(iv). The National Executive Committee
meeting of ITPF will be held on 4th September, 2017. One day prior
to 4th September, the Delhi Unit will have their general body
meeting i,e on 3rd September,
2015. All NE members of the Office bearers may kindly book their tickets to reach Delhi one day prior to the meeting.
The arrival and departure plans may kindly be conveyed to the CHQ
so that necessary arrangements could be made to book the guest house.
The NE members
may make their journey in such a manner so that they would also be able to
attend the Delhi Unit General Body meeting on 3rd September, 2017. Please make the journey reservations
immediately.
All Units are
requested to remit the annual subscription due to the CHQ immediately.
With
greetings,
Yours fraternally.
KKN.
Kutty
Secretary
General.
NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE OF PENSIONERS.
Website:
nccpahq.blogspot.in.
E mail: nccpahq@gmail.com.
13.c Feroze Shah Road,m
New Delhi. 110 001
28th March, 2017
Dear
Comrades,
We send herewith
a copy of the circular letter dated 20th March, 2017, which could
not be placed on the website immediately.
The said circular is about the deliberations, the staff side had at the
NPS committee meeting. The Committee on allowances had their (last meeting- according to them)
today but as per the report, they have not been able to finalise the issue and
therefore, the report is likely to be further delayed. In the light of the said development, the
Staff side Secretary met the Cabinet secretary and urged upon him to expedite
decision on minimum wage, fitment formula, NPS, Pension committee report
etc. The 16th March Strike
under the auspices of the Confederation
of Central Government employees and workers had been a grand
success. We thank all comrades who took the initiative to organise solidarity
demonstrative actions in support of the striking workers. Com. Tapan Sen, MP.Rajya Sabha (CPIp-M) took up the issue in
the Parliament on the day of strike and made a passion plea to the Government
to settle the strike demands.
In the
political scenario that emerged after the general elections of five
States, it is clear that settlement of
demands based upon mere discussions will not fructify. We had been requesting the Bharat Pensioners
Samaj to take initiative in organising
certain demonstrative programme at Delhi to highlight the Pensioner-specific
issues, especially the denial of the Option No.1 recommended by the 7th CPC. They were indicating of a probable date in
the month of April, 2017. However, it looks bleak due to the changed weather conditions, whereby even
April has become unbearably hot. Even
otherwise also, as no decision was taken so far, the possibility of some
programme being undertaken in April is ruled out.
The NCCPA
has been publishing its bulletin every month.
It was decided earlier that to make it financially viable, the
subscription to the magazine must be widened.
Except, no affiliate has taken any initiative in the matter. This apart, we have been informed by our
Treasurer that the remittance in the form of annual subscription from the
affiliates has not been received for the last two financial years.
The
Confederation along with the All India State Government employees Federation
has mooted the idea of holding another conventions on the need to exclude the
Government employees from the purview of the NPS. Their plan is to have a convention at Delhi
in the month of June. This has become necessary due to the anxiety
exhibited by the employees, especially those recruited after 1.1.2004 and the
official statements at the NPS Committee meetings.
To
discuss these developments and the organisational issue, we have decided to
convene the National executive Committee meeting of NCCPA in the month of
August, 2017. We are awaiting the
confirmation of the date from the President and others. The venue of the meeting will be at Nagpur as
the COC of Pensioners organisations there have indicated that it would be
possible for them to get the MLA hostel for the purpose in the monh of August, 2017.
We are
giving a list of items the Staff Side
JCM National Council has proposed for discussion at the Standing committee
meeting pertaining to health and pension problems of retired personnel. Kindly go through the same. If any more issues are to be included,
please prepare a note with requisite documents and send the same to the CHQ to
pursue the same through correspondence and later with the JCM, Staff Side.
With
greetings,
Yours fraternally,
K.K.N. Kutty
Secretary General.
Note on discussion, the Staff Side JCM National Council had with
the NPS Committee:
As
you are aware, the Govt. had set up a committee as per recommendations of the 7th
CPC to streamline the procedure and functioning of the NPS. The Staff Side of
NC JCM was asked to present their views in the matter. The meeting was on 20th
January, 2017,. The Staff side made a written presentation to the committee on the subject. (The note was
placed on the website).However, it also took the stand that the consultation
with staff side could not be held in the manner of a Raj durbar as quite a
number of Associations especially representing the organised Group A services
and the all India Service officers were also invited to the said meeting. The staff side was assured of an independent
hearing. Subsequently the sub-committee
III ( The Pension Committee had set up three sub committees to interact with
various stake holders on different subjects)
under the Chairmanship of Ms. Vandana Sharma, Addl. Secretary of the
Department of Pension and Pensioners
Welfare convened a meeting on 10th
February, 2017. The Sub- Committee was more concerned about the applicability
of various provisions of the present rules to the NPS subscribers especially
those which are punitive in character.
In the event of a Government servant being found guilty under the
CCS(CCA) Rules, the Government is empowered to restrict, reduce or reject the
Pension and other retirement benefits. Prior to the meeting, the sub Committee
had asked for views on various issues to be discussed at the meeting. The
official Side wanted similar rules in the case of NPS subscribers. The Staff
Side had submitted a written Note in this regard. The said Note has also been placed on the
website. In the meeting, the Staff Side
had made it categorically clear that no such rules could be imposed on the NPS
subscriber as the annuity which he purchases on the basis of the contribution
made at the end of his service is the product of a financial transaction and
cannot be unilaterally altered at the whims of the employer. Once the contributions of the employee and the employer is remitted to
the investing agency, the employer ceases to be a stake holder any more in the
scheme.
The
third meeting was held on 17th March, 2017. The meeting was chaired by the Secretary
Pension. The said meeting was to
specifically interact with the members of the Staff Side. On behalf of the Staff side, the following
comrades took part in the meeting.
1. Com.
M.Raghavaiah (Leader, Staff Side)
2. Com.
Sivgopal Misra(Secretary Staff Side)
3. Com.
KKN.Kutty(Confederation)
4. Com.
C. Sreekumar(AIDEF)
5. Com.
Guman Singh and (NFIR)
6.
Com. Sreenivasan (INDWF)
As indicated earlier, several Associations of
Group A Officers had made their presentations.
Some of the important points mentioned by them during the discussions
were:
1) Discrimination
between pre and post 2004 officials-
2) While
Govt. determines the quantum of pension subscription and makes it mandatory it refuses to
guarantee a minimum return.
3) Atal
Pension Yojana offers better and guaranteed benefit to the Subscribers.
4) The Government’s assurance that the employees
under NPS will get annuity not less than the minimum pension under the defined
benefit scheme and might even be more was
made on wrong assumption in as much as
a) 100%
of the corpus was taken for computation
of annuity whereas as per the scheme only
40% of the pension wealth alone
would b e available. .
b) Fund
expenses are exorbitantly under- valued.
c) No
benefit for the family the case of a Pensioner, who dies at an early age under
NPS.
d) Annuity
is not cost-indexed.
5) Two
officers at the level of the Secretary to GOI retiring on the same day in 2037( former recruited in 2003 and latter
in 2004 )will have a huge differential in pension. The 2003 recruitee will have pension 3.25
times of the annuity of the 2004
recruitee. Over a period of next 10 years i.e in 2047,(due to cost indexation)
the 2003 recruitee will have pension 7.4 times of what the 2004 NPS official receives as annuity.
6) In
most of the countries where contributory pension scheme is in vogue, the Govt’s
(employer) contribution is 25% of the salary while that of the employee is 10%
7) The
NPS Contribution do not enjoy the Tax benefits like PPF, EPF, GPF etc.
The
Secretary Pension informed the members that the Committee’s mandate is only to
make suggestions to streamline the NPS procedures and make the rules simple and
transparent. The basic features will not therefore undergo any change. He
concluded that neither the scheme would be
replaced or discarded , nor any guaranteed minimum pension would be offered. as in both cases Govt. will
have to undertake financial
obligations. He clarified that the Sub
Committees have been set up to expedite the work.
The staff Side in their presentation made out
inter alia the following points:
a) The
number of employees covered under NPS in increasing day by day and in a
decade’s time, they might become significant segment of the Government
personnel.
b) All
those who are covered by the scheme are extremely critical and resent that
their savings are channelled into private hands to help the corporate bodies to
make enormous profits.
c) There
is no likelihood either now or in any time in future that NPS subscribers will
be able to purchase an annuity
equivalent to what the pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme is entitled.
The Government must honour its commitment made to this effect to the staff side
in the National Council, when the NPS was introduced.
d) The
Committee in its report must at least
bring it to the notice of Government that the Staff Side of the JCM is
of the firm view that the cosmetic changes in the scheme will not bring about
any tangible benefit to the subscribers and the Government must as an interim
measure guarantee the pension to NPS subscribers equivalent to what is provided
for the personnel covered under the defined benefit scheme.
e) The
Staff Side opined that the committee
will be well within its term of
reference to suggest.
(i)
Cost-indexation of annuity
as the Contribution made by the
subscribers and the Government as employer
is 10% of the salary-salary for this purpose being Basic Pay and
Dearness allowance. In other words, in every six months contribution increases
and therefore it is logical that the annuity is also raised every six months to
keep pace with the rate of inflation.
(ii)
Minimum guarantee is assured
by many countries even under the contributory system of pension and the
provision to the contrary in the PFRDA Act must be recommended to be removed.
(iii)
It is a welcome step that
the Govt. has now decided to extend the benefit of family pension in the case
of all NPS subscribers who die in harness. The family pension can therefore be
assured at the prevailing rate for all
NPS subscribers, if necessary by appropriating a one-time deduction from their pension wealth, at their option, at the time of retirement.
(iv)
To introduce the GPF again
as a voluntary option.
(v)
All NPS subscribers must be
provided with a payment slip by the heads of offices indicating the amount deducted, the amount
contributed by the Govt. and the date on which the sum has been made over the to the fund
managers, irrespective of the communication the subscriber is entitled to get
from the PFRDA registry.
(vi)
No rules to be framed to
link the pension benefit with disciplinary proceedings.
(vii)
The present investment
pattern prescribed must be reviewed for its viability periodically.
(viii)
The Sub Committee which goes
into the issue concerning framing rules may be asked to interact with the Staff
Side once the draft rules are ready.
(ix)
In so far as customer
friendly procedures are concerned, the committee may look at the best
international practices with a view to adopt and incorporate them.
It
could be seen from the deliberations in the committee that nothing short of
replacing NPS with Statutory
defined Benefit Pension Scheme
will bring about anything good for new recruitees.Our endeavour must be in that
direction whereby sanctions are generated and compulsions are felt by the Govt as early as
possible.
K.K.N. Kutty
Member,
Standing Committee
National Council, JCM.
.
Item
No.1
Central
Government health Scheme. Empanelling of hospitals – streamlining the procedure
to provide in-patient treatment to the beneficiaries.
The demand placed by the Staff Side earlier
to set up CGHS hospitals at all CGHS centres could not be acceded to by the
Government due to the prohibitive cost involved. The alternate method of
empanelling and recognizing private hospitals for the benefit of CGHS
subscribers, who require in-patient treatment, received the appreciation from
all concerned. However, the tendering
procedure evolved and due to many other reasons, the number of such hospitals
in almost all centers except Delhi came down very heavily and in certain places
it was reduced to one or two at the maximum.
This apart, some of the
recognized and empanelled hospitals do not have even basic facilities to
treat the patients. In certain other
cases, the hospitals which were recognized and were functioning well and
catering to the requirement of the CGHS beneficiaries refused to entertain the patients as there
had been huge pending bills, the payment of which had not been received by
them. To illustrate the point further,
we send along with this a Note we have
received from the Central Government Pensioners Association , Kerala. We, therefore, request you to
(a) Ensure that each CGHS Centre five
private reputed hospitals are recognized for the purpose of general treatment;
The Government may hold bilateral negotiations on the basis of a pre-determined
norms.
(b) Recognize at least three super specialty
hospitals in each centre so that the patients who suffer from chronic diseases,
Cardiac problems and cancer related illness could get immediate treatment
without hassles.
(c) Some mechanism is evolved that the bills
are not allowed to pile up and the recognized hospitals are made the payment
within a fixed time frame.
Item No.2
Include unmarried/widow /divorcee sister in the definition of family
for family pension.
The scope of Family pension under Rule 52 of the CCS(Pension)
Rules, 1972 was extended to the dependent disabled siblings (brother and
sister) of Central Government servants/pensioners vide DOP & PW O.M. No.
1/15/2008-P&PW (E) dated 17th August, 2009. There are cases wherein an
employee/pensioner remains unmarried and leaves behind dependent
unmarried/widow /divorcee sister/sisters. Though cases of such types may be few
and far between, nonetheless, such hapless ladies need to be taken care by the Government lest they should be left to fend for themselves,
after the death of Government Servant/pensioner on whom they were fully
dependent before his/her death. We request to include dependent unmarried
/widow /divorcee sister/sisters in the definition of family for the purpose of
family pension .
Item No.3
Counting full service of
Temporary causal labourers for pensionery and retirement
benefits in Railways-reg.
The Staff Side had discussed its demand for
counting full service of temporary status of casual
labourers for pensionary and retirement
benefits at the level of Railway Ministry. Consequently, the Railway Ministry
had agreed and accordingly proposal was sent to the Ministry of Finance and
DoP&T Seeking clearance. Unfortunately, the MoF/DoP&T have not accorded
approval:-
In this connection, the Staff Side brings
following key points for consideration.
(a) The
Casual Labourers in Railways had attained temporary status on completion of prescribed days of continuous working
and got the benefits admissible to temporary Railway/Government
employees such as regular Pay Scale, Medical facility etc.,
(b)
The Railway Administrations have however taken abnormally long periods to
absorb them as regular staff
although regular posts were vacant.
(c) The
status of casual labourers in railways after acquiring temporary status (termed
as Temporary employee) is exactly
similar to the substitutes in whose case, the total service from the date of attainment of temporary status is
counted for reckoning qualifying service
for pensionery benefits.
(d) Various
CATs, High Courts and even the Apex Court have given decisions against the
differential
treatment between the casual labour and substitutes particularly when both attained temporary status and directed to
treat them at par so far as reckoning the service
from the date of temporary status till the date of regularization for
pensionary benefits etc.,
(e) The
SLPs filed by the Union of India before the Apex Court in a few cases of casual
labourers were dismissed and the
Hon’ble Supreme Court had directed the Union of India to calculate Pension and other retiral benefits
payable to the retiring/retired employees,
taking into account the 100% temporary status service.
The Staff Side, therefore, requests to
consider the above valid points and accord approval for
counting total temporary status service of
Casual Labourers for pensionary benefits in Railways.
Item No.4.
Direct
consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central Government/State Government
Hospitals
/Polyclinics. Continuation of the facility to those CGHS beneficiaries who were
eligible for
direct consultation before revision of the Monetary Ceiling
i)
The monetary Ceiling for direct
consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central/State Government Hospitals/
Polyclinics was revised to Pay/Pension/Family Pension of Rs.33, 480/- per month
and above with effect from 1-6-2009 vide MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-cghs
(P) dated 20-5-2009 on account of
implementation of recommendations of 6th Central Pay Commission. However, para
5 (iii) of the OM states that “entitlement
of Pensioners/Family Pensioners who have already deposited their contribution
for life time CGHS facility, will not be changed”
ii)
Pre-2006 Pensioners who were eligible for direct consultation on the basis of
the then existing/pre-revised monetary ceiling of Pay/Pension/Family Pension,
but whose Pay/Pension/Family Pension is below the revised monetary ceiling of
Rs.33, 480, are not being allowed direct consultation facility on the plea that
they do not satisfy the requirement of minimum Pay/Pension/Family pension for
eligibility for direct consultation.
iii)
Absence of the entry regarding entitlement of the beneficiary for direct
consultation in the Plastic Card is adding to the woes of the Beneficiaries
since they will have to establish their claim for the facility on each and
every occasion of direct consultation with Specialist. It is to be noted that
the paper cards issued earlier did carry an entry on the eligibility of the
Beneficiary for direct consultation.
iii) Hence it is requested that:
§ Instructions may please be caused to be issued to all
Directors/Additional Directors; CGHS to continue to provide the facility of
direct consultation to such of those Beneficiaries who were eligible for the
same prior to revision of the monitory ceiling vide O.M. dated 20-5-2009, in as
much as para (5) (iii) of the said O. M. states that entitlement of a
Beneficiary who holds a life time card will not change with the changes brought
about w.e.f 1-6-2009.
§ Entry regarding the
eligibility for direct consultation with the Specialist must be made in the plastic cards issued to such
Beneficiaries who were eligible for it before 1-6-2009
·
Entry regarding
the eligibility for direct consultation with the Specialist must be made in the
plastic cards issued to Beneficiaries who are eligible for it as per the
revised monetary ceiling.
·
On-line appointment with
the Specialist
For taking on-line appointment with
the Specialist, there are two fields to be filled up in the
prescribed format.
(1)
Date of reference from the Wellness centre
(2) Basic Pay/Pension/Family Pension.
In the case of
(2) above, If the amount of Pay/Pension/FP, entered is less than the revised
monetary Ceiling of Rs.33, 480, the request gets rejected and a message stating
that”you are not eligible to take an on-line appointment” appears on the
screen, thereby preventing the Beneficiary who was eligible for direct
consultation before 1-6-2009 from availing the facility of on-line direct
consultation. Hence, the format prescribed for taking direct on-line
consultation needs to be suitably modified to include such of those
beneficiaries who were eligible for the same as per pre-1-6-2009 monetary
Ceiling of Rs.18,000/- & pre- 31-3-2004
monetary Ceiling of Rs. 12,000/-.
Item No.5
Revision of monetary Ceiling for direct consultation with
Specialists in CGHS/Central
Government/State Government Hospitals /Polyclinics in respect of
Pensioners and Family
Pensioners.
Vide
Para (F) of MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-CGHS (P) dated 20-5-2009, the Monitory Ceiling for direct
consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central Government/State Government Hospitals /Polyclinics in respect all
CGHS Beneficiaries has been fixed as Pay/Pension/Family pension of Rs. 33,480/- per month and above. Equating
Pension and Family pension with Pay for the purpose of direct consultation with
Specialists, has not only created a wide disparity in facilities admissible
under CGHS between serving and retired employees, but also has resulted in
restriction of the facility of direct consultation with Specialists only
to the officers retiring from Grade S-30 & above who only are entitled for a pension of 33,500/- and above and in absolute
denial of the facility to all Family pensioners since the maximum amount of Family Pension admissible under CCS(Pension)Rules is Rs.
27,000/- only.
Hence,
the monetary ceiling for direct consultation with Specialists in respect of
Pensioners must be revised to 50% of Rs.33, 480 ie. Rs.16,740 and to 30% in
respect of Family Pensioners ie., Rs.10.044, on the analogy of grant of Pension
and Family pension under CCS(Pension) Rules.,1972.
Item No.6
Plastic Cards
The
process of issue of plastic cards is still not complete, though it started
about 2 years ago. In Bangalore, only about 40% of the Beneficiaries have got
the plastic card so far. Hence, an Agency in Bangalore City may be identified
for the purpose, which would quicken the process.
Item No.7
Indication of Ward entitlement in
plastic cards of pre-1-6-2009 Beneficiaries
O
.M No.S-11011-6/98-CGHS (P) dated 26-10-2005 issued in connection with revision
of ward entitlement consequent upon merger of DA/DR with Pay/Pension w.e.f
1-4-2004 states that
“For the existing CGHS card holders both
serving and pensioners, there will be no change in their ward entitlements
consequent upon the grant of D P /D R
w.e.f. 1-4-2004”
&
O .M. No. S 1011/2/2008-CGHS (P),
dated 20-5-2009 issued in connection with revision of ward entitlement
consequent upon implementation of 6th CPC recommendations states
that Entitlement of pensioners /family pensioners
who have already deposited their contribution for life time CGHS facility, will
not be changed
But
in some cases, the Ward entitlement is indicated as per the revised rates in
the plastic cards issued to pre-1-6-2009 Beneficiaries, which has resulted in
indication of a ward which is below their actual ward entitlement determined
with reference to the pay drawn at the time of retirement. This anomaly needs
to be set right by making necessary correction in the plastic cards, if a
Beneficiary submits representation requesting corrections in the plastic card
issued to him/her. Necessary instructions must be issued to all concerned.
Item No.8
Grant of one time option to CGHS Beneficiaries to opt for ward
entitlement as per their
revised Pay in Pay Band.
Some CGHS Beneficiaries who had opted for payment
of CGHS contribution on the basis of their pension at the time of their
retirement and whose ward entitlement was determined on their pension, got ward
entitlement which was below their entitlement
determined as per the pay last drawn. Since they are eligible for higher
ward entitlement facility determined on their pay, say from general ward to semi-private ward/
semi-private ward to private ward, they may be given a onetime option to opt for determination of their ward
entitlement on the basis of their notional “Pat in Pay Band” in terms of
MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-cghs (P) dated 20-5-2009.It has been clarified in the O.M. ibid that Pay in
Pay Band means the corresponding Pay in Pay Band that the Pensioner would have
drawn had he/she continued in service.
Item No. 9
Provision of CGHS facility for life time to dependent
disabled/mentally retarded children of Central Government Employees/Pensioners
i)
In the “Definition of Family” under
CGHS, furnished in Ministry of Health
& FW O.M. No. 3T-1/2009-C&P/CGHS (P) dated 23-2-2011, daughter as
indicated at Sl No.( 5) (ii) can avail the benefits till she starts earning or
gets married irrespective of the age-limit, where as son indicated at Sl. No.
5(iii) of the list, suffering from any permanent Physical/Mental disability is
entitled to avail the facility “irrespective of age- limit”, and son’s marital
status may not result in denial of CGHS facility to him ,in as much as there is
no mention of marital status in the definition, unlike the definition at Sl.5
(i) On the other hand, daughter
suffering from any permanent disability (physical disability or mental retardation)
loses the facility if she gets married as per the definition at Sl.
(5)(ii).
Hence,
the case of a physically disabled/mentally retarded daughter needs to be
considered for extension of CGHS facility “irrespective of age-limit, even
after her marriage”.
ii)
It is to be noted that under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, by an amendment to
explanations 1 and 3 after Sub-rule 6 of Rule 54, as communicated vide
Department of Pension & PW O .M. No. 1/33/2012-P&PW (E) dated
16-1-2013, mentally /physically disabled children have been allowed to continue
to draw family pension even after their marriage thereby removing the condition
of marital status for continued drawal of family pension.
iii)
It is requested that on the analogy of pension rules, mentally/physically
disabled children (both son and daughter) of Central Government
Employees/Pensioners may be allowed to continue to avail CGHS facilities even
after their marriage by removing the condition of marital status now existing
in respect of daughters only. The “definition of family” under CGHS may please
be modified suitably.
Item No.10
Extension of CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees - follow up
action by the Ministry of Health and family Welfare & fixation of rates of
contribution & ward entitlement.
Department
of Telecommunications vide their OM No 4-12(11)2012-PAT dated 20/2/2014 have
extended CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees who are in receipt of
Central Civil pension/Pro-rata pension from Central Civil Estimates in
consultation with the Ministry of Health& Family Welfare. BSNL retirees
have been given an option to choose either CGHS or BSNL–MRS as per their
convenience.
BSNL
also vide its letter no. BSN/Admn/ 14-15/09 (pt) dated 2nd April, 2014
addressed to all the Chief General Managers, has asked them to give wide
publicity and to assist the willing retired employees by forwarding their
applications to the respective CGHS units for admission to CGHS.
But,
the letter No. Z-5025/36/2006-CGHS-III Pt. Dated 9-1-2014 stated to have been
issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare extending CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees, does
not seem to have been uploaded to its website or to the website of CGHS which
has resulted in a large number of BSNL pensioners remaining unaware of the CGHS
facility extended to them even after a lapse of 14 months .Hence, immediate
action for wide circulation of the said O.M. needs to be taken.
Further,
since the DoT O.M. dated 20/2/2014 stipulates that the retired BSNL employees
who opt for CGHS “would have to pay the requisite fee to CGHS as applicable to
Government retirees”, the rate of monthly contribution payable by BSNL
pensioner has to be fixed. It is to be noted that the contribution payable by
the Government retirees is fixed on the basis of the Grade Pay that they would
have drawn had they been in service whereas in BSNL there is no element of
Grade Pay to fix the rate of contribution on par with Government retirees. The
ward entitlement of Government retirees is also determined on the ‘notional Pay
in Pay Band’. Hence, a new criterion on contribution and ward entitlement in
respect of BSNL retirees must now be evolved, which must be in conformity with
the rates applicable to CGHS Beneficiaries.
Item No.11
Extending
the benefit of pension revision to the employees and officials who are absorbed
in the Central Public Sector undertakings.
In the case of Civil Servants who are initially on deputation to
Central Public sector undertaking but later absorbed in those
organsiations and who had drawn lump sum
payment by commutation of their central pension, orders are yet to be issued by
the Government extending the benefit of pension revision of 7th CPC recommendation to them. We request that the requisite orders may
please be issued without further loss of time.
Revision
of Ex-gratia to CPF/SRPF (C)retirees.
In acceptance of the demand of the Staff side at the National
Council, JCM, ex-gratia payments were made to the CPF/SRPF© retirees. These rates fixed in 1988 was revised on
1.11. 1997 and again from 2006. Presently the rates are as under:
Group A. Rs. 3000
Group B. Rs. 1000
Group C. Rs. 750
Group D. Rs. 650.
Taking into account the
fact that pay and pension were revised on the basis of the 7th Central Pay Commission’s recommendation a
revision of rates of the ex gratia to the CPF/SRPF© retirees whose number is dwindling every day is
warranted. We, therefore, request that the rates may be appropriately revised
applying the very same rationale adopted in the case of civil pensioners.
Dispense with the practice of ignoring the fraction while
computing the Dearness allowance.
For the sake of easy
computation of DA the practice of
ignoring the fraction was initiated. The
quantum loss to the beneficiaries in the beginning was meager. Now that the administrative difficulties
which promoted for ignoring the fraction has been greatly eased due to
computerization and taking into account the loss for six months is no more
meagre, it is necessary that the practice is dispensed with. For example, the next installment of DA is
likely to be 2.95%whereas the orders would be issued for grant of only 2%. In
the case of an employee, whose basic pay is Rs. 50,000, the loss per month in that case would be Rs. 475/-. It is pertinent to mention in this connection
that in the case of Bank employees, the practice of ignoring the fraction is
not followed. We, therefore, request
that the DA hereafter be computed without ignoring the fraction.
Item No.12
Opening of CGHS Dispensaries in AGRA, Barrackpore (Kolkata) and
Kochi
A large number of Central Government employees and pensioners are
concentrated in and around Agra, Barrackpore and Kochi. The employees and
pensioners of these cities are to travel a long distance for taking treatment
since CGHS dispensaries are not available in these cities. It is, therefore
requested that CGHS dispensaries may be established in these cities
Item No.13
Revision of the benefit of Deposit
Linked Insurance Coverage from GPF.
As per Rule 33-B of GPF Rules on the death of
a Subscriber an additional amount not exceeding Rs. 60,000/- payable under
Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme of GPF to the dependents of a deceased
employee. This rate has not been enhanced for so many years. Similar benefit
for a depositor in EPF covered under the Employees Deposit Linked Insurance
Scheme 1976 is enhanced to Rs. 6,00,000/-. It is therefore requested that
Government may consider to enhance the limit of Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme
from GPF.
Item No.14.
MACP to the employees
who have completed 10 years or 20/30 years on the date of their retirement
Employees who have completed 10 years in the same grade / pay level
or those who have completed 20/30 years on the last working day of the month
which happens to be the superannuation/ retirement day of the concerned
employee is denied MACP benefits on the plea that they are eligible for MACP
only on the next working day. Since the concerned employee retired one day
before he is denied the benefit. Due to this the employee is subjected to huge
loss in pension and other terminal benefits. Therefore it is requested that
employees who are completing ten years in the same grade / same pay level and
20/30 years on the date of their retirement i. e. last working day of the month
may be granted MACP benefits by relaxing the relevant provisions in the MACP
scheme
