SUMMARY OF THE DETAILED PRESENTATION TO BE MADE TO THE ANOMALY COMMITTEE - By V.Natarajan

SUMMARY OF THE DETAILED PRESENTATION
TO BE MADE
TO THE ANOMALY COMMITTEE
by V.Natarajan, Retd DDG,GSI
President, Pensioners’ Forum (affiliated to the AIFPA, Chennai)
Associate Member, RREWA
A.GENERAL:
Anomalies have come up because of the lacunae in either improper understanding of the principles and policies of the SCPC while implementing their recommendations on Revision of Pension of the Pre-2006 Pensioners, contained in the Para 5.1.47 of the Report. The SCPC never recommended or meant to recommend Revised Pension to Pre-2006 Pensioners to be less than the “MINIMUM” of the Pension of Post-2006 pensioners, of same class/ category. In fact they had recommended in. Para 11.33 “ Fitment formulas recommended for serving employees to be extended in case of existing pensioners/family pensioners” and in Para 11.35 “.Pension to be paid at 50% of the average emoluments/last pay drawn (whichever is more beneficial) without linking it to 33 years of qualifying service for grant of full pension.

ANOMALIES are due to the PARTIAL (in parts) and again PARTIAL (as opposed to impartial)/ improper implementation of the SCPC Recommendations related to the pre-2006 pension through successive, erroneous, confusing OMs with incorrect ”modifications” AND ”clarifications” and non-relevant Table/ Annexure etc which have broken the common/ uniform/ just approach, destroyed the underlying principles of parity, justice and protection and has ultimately resulted in several anomalies and inconsistencies as foreseen by the learned SCPC ( pl refer their Para 1.2.25 of SCPC Report)

OMs dated 3rd Oct.08 & 14 Oct 2008 conveyed and concretised the implementation that pension cannot be lower than 50 % of “minimum of pay band” without having correspondence with pre-revised pay scale from which a pensioner retired. If it had been “50% of the minimum of the revised pay in the pay band” corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale, there would not have been any scope for several types of ANOMALIES/ ANOMALOUS issues, which are listed here:

B. ANOMALIES/ ANOMALOUS ISSUES:
1. LOSS IN MINIMUM ENTITLED PENSION – This is the overall effect and the loss is across the board, affecting all Pre-2006 Pensioners. 2..NOT DEFINING “EMOLUMENTS” FOR PRE-2006 PENSIONERS – Glaringly, in the OM of 1.9.2008 pertaining to Pre-2006 pensioners defining “Emoluments” is omitted whereas, on the very next day, OM of 2nd Sept defines the “Emoluments “ for post 2006 pensioners to protect their pensions based on last pay drawn and CCS (Revised Pay)Rules 2008 are applied. 3.. MISINTERPRETATION OF “MINIMUM OF THE PAY IN THE PAY BAND” TO BE SAME AS “MINIMUM OF THE PAY BAND”-BOTH ARE NOT BE THE SAME: This is the root cause for all types of anomalies and needs to be set right immediately. 4.INDISCRIMINATE MERGER OF PRE-REVISED PAY SCALES INTO PAY BANDS-NOT PROVIDING REPLACEMENT PAY SCALES –RESULTS IN TWO CLASSES OF PENSIONERS FOR SAME POST (PRE-2006 VS POST-2006)- Defining the slots of “revised “Minimum” basic with respect to revised/replacement pay scales within pay band for the Pre-Revised Scales will remove the ambiguity and help for NOTIONAL FIXATION of pension at a minimum of modified parity 5. REDUCTION IN MINIMUM PENSION BASIC OF THE PRE-2006 PENSIONERS- AGAINST ALL RULES!- This is glaring in cases of higher pre-revised pay scales say S30, S 29, S27, S26 etc where ultimate result is DOWNGRADATION of their pre-revised pension basic to the level of S 24 is seen. Such reductions are unjust/ unprincipled/ unprecedented/ against Rules and remedy suggested in 4 above will resolve the gross injustice. 6.ALL ANOMALIES ARE DUE TO CONTRAVENTION OF SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS UNDER ARTICLES 14 & 21-AGAINST GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND POLICY OF THE SCPC.- Though as cited earlier, the SCPC had recommended in. Para 11.33 “ Fitment formulas recommended for serving employees to be extended in case of existing pensioners/family pensioners” and in Para 11.35 “.Pension to be paid at 50% of the average emoluments/last pay drawn (whichever is more beneficial) without linking it to 33 years of qualifying service for grant of full pension’ etc which are strictly in accordance with the Court judgments/ Constitutional provisions/ SCPC’s own principles & policies, the outcome is different due to the Govt.’s wrong interpretation of Para 5.1.47 of SCPC Report, implementation through OMs of conflicting and ambiguous nature, and finally not answering/ responding to any of the REPRESENTATIONS/ APPEALS of pre-2006 pensioners.. 7. ANOMALIES DUE TO DENIAL OF FULL PENSION @ 50% OF LAST PAY DRAWN TO PRE-SCPC- RETIREES WITH Plus 20 yrs service & ALSO to those who fell short of 33 yrs service (due to age etc)- EXTENDING SIMILAR BENEFITS AS THOSE OF POST-SCPC- RETIREES OF SAME CATEGORIES: These are also on the same lines as above:
C.SUGGESTED INTERIM REMEDIAL ACTIONS FOR THE ANOMALY COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER FOR RECOMMENDATION TOTHE GOVT. 1.The amendment to Para 4.2 of MOPPGP/DOPPW’s OM F No 38/37/08-P&PW(A) dtd 1st Sept.2008 issued under same authorities’ OM of even no.PtI dtd 03 Oct 2008 is arbitrary/ its interpretations and implementations are incorrect and inconsistent with SCPC’s own principles/ policies and Apex Court’s directives on parity among same class of pensioners. It is also violative of the principle/policy of modified parity of MINIMUM pension/Family Pension accepted and notified by the Govt. and therefore the errors need be corrected.

2.The consolidated revised Pension/ Family Pension as per any formula, for any post/ grade in all cases, irrespective of the dates of retirement/ revisions, shall not be lower than fifty percent of the notional REVISED MINIMUM PAY for the post/ grade in the appropriate Pay Band under the Revised Pay Rules plus the GRADE PAY thereon, (all/both) corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale from which the pensioner had retired.

3.Since the SCPC Recommendations are implemented w.e.f 01.01.2006, all pension norms applicable to serving employees under the same, must be made equally applicable to all those who are already retired but notionally were in service on 01.01.2006, irrespective of issuance of various orders concerning these norms. (Special dispensations can be provided to stagnation cases/ older Pensioners not getting true benefits of Revisions/ old Family Pensioners). It is to be noted that Pensioners are deemed employees as observed by Courts and the Govt. continues to be their Employer.
Final/ Full Recommendations can follow based on detailed considerations/ individual cases.
Source: http://www.rrewa.org/Default.aspx