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Friday, July 17, 2009

Supreme Court has already upheld higher pension to PBOR who retired between 1-1-96 and 9-10-97

After the 5th CPC, the govt had set up a committee to look into the anomalies in the pay-scales of PBOR and to rationalise the grouping scheme. Ultimately, the classification was re-grouped from A-E to X-Z. The anomalies were removed and pay scales bettered.

So far so good. However, the govt while notifying the new scales, made them applicable w.e.f 10-10-1997. Moreover, the pensionary benefits of the enhanced scales were granted only to PBOR who retired on or after 10-10-97 and those who were discharged between 1-1-96 and 9-10-97 were granted lower pension scales. A comparison can be made between this table (retirees between 1-1-96 and 9-10-97) and this one (post 10-10-97 retirees).

The Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court however had held in late 2008 that since the committee for improvement and rationalising of scales was constituted to remove the anomalies of the 5th CPC, the benefits would have to accrue from 1-1-96 for all and hence the date of 10-10-97 was an artificial date with no reasonable nexus with the objective sought to be achieved which was elimination of 5th CPC incongruities. In short, the Hon’ble Court held that the removal of anomalies would have to be back-dated to the date when such anomalies had arisen.

The govt had challenged the said verdict of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in the Hon’ble Supreme Court through a Special Leave Petition but the same has been dismissed and this important decision by the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court has hence already been upheld.

14 comments:

Lt Col G K Mohan Rao said...

The same anomily can be applied in respect to 6 cpc where govt did the same type of differential application

Penmil said...

Thanks for bringing this to the notice and information of all. The only government of India document, by the GOM ,Ltr No_14(3)-2004-D(Pens-Sers)-Vol_III dated 01-02-2006,on this, no where restricted the revision to only Post 10-10-1997.It has also not anywhere suggested that what is applicable to Pensioners is not applicable to Family Pensioners.
But still PCDA(P) went on to prepare elaborate Tables, 83+, in number in their Circular No.350[approved by the government vide their LETTER NO 14 (3) /2004-D (Pen/Sers). Vol-V Dated 2.5.2006] .

A more compassionate understanding would have resulted in only 15 Tables with three Groups, including all the honarary ranks, time scale rank and the NC(E)s of all trades put together.
A table for the Family Pensioners should have been also included in that Concordance Tables.

Still left grey is the applicability of this revision to Family Pensioners.

An attendant querry in this context is , if the minimum pension after this revision of May 2006(applicable from 01-01-2006 and Pre 6 CPC) is Rs. 1913 for PBOR Pensioners, why is the minimum Pension for PBORs after 6th CPC not 1913 multiplied by 2.26, that is Rs.4323.38, rounded off to Rs. 4330 ? It has been pegged down to Rs.3500 along with all erstwhile GP D
pensioners.

As you quoted in a different context earlier, the sword of justice has to again and again prove that it has no scabbard !
But one cannot approach the courts for each simple interpretation, that the administration fails to make.
Looking forward to a publication in your blog of the order part of the honourable courts.

Ramani said...

I think we have to wait and see before jumping to conclusions.
before implementing any drective of the Supreme court, the govt weighs all options.Unfortunately it does not accept the Hon Supreme Court's judgement as Final but looks for ways to get out of the situation by appeals and referendems and commitees etc.The case of retd Major Dhanapalan is a fitting example.
However on the positive side we must acknowledge that the Govt is doing all it can to give orop /prp.
They could easily have palmed it off or outright rejected( as they won by a huge margin).
The only problem is that the beneficiaries may not be alive to
enjoy the same.
a case in point is the 2nd and last instalment of 60% arrears is yet to be given.
Many pensioners have met their maker by Now.

abmehta said...

As discussed earlier in this forum, Banks are acting in an adhoc manner in fixing the pension for various pensioners. Apart from delay in the payment of arrears, one may or may not be getting the rightful pension. Is the PCDA going to issue revised PPOs and if so when? They may have been waiting for further government notifications and corrigendums, but if they delay further the banks will pay the balance arrears again in an adhoc manner as and when funds are alloted.

Harry said...

@ Maj Navdeep

Sir, thanks for this enlightening ruling of Supreme Court!

Govt 'expects' its citizens to follow law, BUT DOES GOVT FOLLOW LAW BY ITSELF? Firstly they issue orders after a long period of time, then appoint committees to look into anamolies which further take inordinately long! Then implement committees' recommendations selectively, 'prospectively'. When lower courts rule against Govt Order, Govt appeals before wider bench. If appeal is rejected by wider Bench, then Govt goes to Supreme Court. If Supreme court also rules against Govt, then it looks for ways to avoid adverse ruling !! Cases in point Maj Dhanpalan's and Maj Gens' pension rulings!!
There are reportedly 2.5 crore cases pending in courts and a substantial number of these is due to the Govt itself, because of the a/m reasons!

So, kya karen aisi Sarkar ka?

If citizens don't pay tax on time they are hauled up but when Govt does not pay them their dues on time (and no interest either for the delay) what do the citizens do?

Shameful State !! :(

Anonymous said...

This shows system of justice exists but often the decision comes too late by judiciary and by the time opponents are playing with the system (in this case Govt.). Already big mess has created by SCPC specially in case of PBORs putting all PBORs into 2 pay bands, further by change of pension formula ( maximum of scale to pay drawn), PIP by Govt and above all different dictation of terms by our Boos as suited by them and finally by now Supreme Court Justice now. The big question of the hours is Will the affected people get their dues in their life time?

Pali said...

Dear navjot,
I was commissioned in AOC on 2 mar 68 and took premature retirement on 31 aug 1993 as lt col (selection)
What would be my pension after Pb4 considering my service.
thanks
Lt Col Harpal Singh
(Retd)

Col VT Venkatesh(Retd) said...

@Lt Col Harpal Singh
You may download the new pension orders for Lt Cols in PB 4 & equivalent from
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15723084/Lt-Col-Pension-Orders

dkm21432 said...

Maj Navdeep
Can ypu throw some light on the qualifying service for the pension. I would like to know whether the ante date is considerd for calculating the qualifyinf service for pension. Secons aspect that need calrification is whether the period of qualifying service commences from the date of confirmation of permananent commission. The doubt has arisen beacuse in Air Force officers from engineering branch get one year of ante date and their Permananent Commission is confirmed after one year of joining the force. For ex I joined in September 91 and my ante date is from sep 90. My pc was confirme in sep 92. In this case when will I complete the pensionable service.
Can you please provide the actual rule position on the subject
Regards
Wg Cdr Deepak

Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh said...

@Wingco Deepak

Ante date seniority does NOT count as qualifying service for pension.

However all commissioned and pre-commissioned service, incl service in other central govt departments IS counted as qualifying service. Confirmation of Permanent Commission or grant of Permanent Commission has no relationship with qualifying service.

Ex-Sgt Gavini VN said...

@Maj Navdeep Sir &Penmil Sir,

You are aware that the pensions of all PBORs(pre-96) were revised w.e.f.1.1.96(GOI MOD Order No. 1(2)98/D(Pen/Sers)d/d 14.7.98) based on pensions of CGS (GOI, Min of PPG&P, Dept of P&PW No.F. No. 45/86/97-P&PW(A)PartII of 27.10.97) The Minimum Pension of Rs.375/-(IV CPC) was increased by 3.4 times to Rs.1275/-(V CPC)and max Rs.4500/-to Rs.15000/-(3.333 times) respectively.

The MOD order No.(1)/99/D(Pen Sers) of 7.6.99 (Para 1) modified as "w.e.f.1.1.96 Pension of all AF Pensioners irrespective of their date of retirement SHALL NOT BE LESS THAN 50%OF THE MIN.PAY IN THE REVISED SCALE OF PAY INTRODUCED WEF 1.1.96 OF THE RANK AND RANK AND GROUP IN CASE OF(PBOR)HELD BY THE PENSIONER. But strangely, para 2.2(a)of the same order declared "the revision of ser pen in terms o these mod orders in r/o PBOR retirees WILL NOT BE BENEFICIAL except the rank of JCO's granted Hon.commn where pen is calculated at max.of pay scale incl 50% of highest classification allowance. So, therefore, action to modify the pensions as per para 1 were not at all taken. Or else the min.pension should have been Rs.1488/-for GpD/E,& Rs.1838/-for GpA Sepoys in place of Rs.1275/-w.e.f.1.1.96.

The restructured trades/groups on entry qualifications from 10.10.97 and scales revision orders were issued. Here again minimum pension should have been Rs.1525/- to GpZ Sepoy(No change to GpA Sepoy)wef 10.10.97. But these orders were not applied to pre 10.10.97 PBORs at all.

Now the MOD Order of 1/2/06,(based on GoM recommendations modified the pensions of 3lowest ranks "wef 1.1.96, pension of pre-96 retirees of all ranks of PBORs Army/Navy/AF)for 33 yrs of service SHALL NOT BE LESS THAN 50%OF THE MAX.PAY IN THE REVISED SCALES OF PAY WEF 1.1.96 (INCL 50% HIGHEST CLASSN ALLOW)OF THE RANK AND GP HELD CONTINUOUSLY FOR 10 MONTHS PRECEDING RETIREMENT SUBJECT TO A MIN PENSION OF RS 1913/- TO BE REDUCED PRO-RATA FOR LESS THAN 33YRS OF SERVICE. A weightage of 10,8 and 6 yrs for Sep/Nk/Hav was also given wef 1.1.96.(Kindly note that Rs.1275/- was enhanced by 1.5 times to Rs.1913/-). Here the PCDA(P)Allahabad Circular 350 of 19.5.06 still fixed min.pension of Sepoy (Lowest) at Rs.1275/-(all tables pre &post-96, Pre-&post 97) instead of fixing minimum pension at Rs.1913/-.(Shocking and unbelievable).If this was modified to Rs.1913/, the Min pension as per VI CPC should have been Rs.4330/- (1913x2.26 criteria of 6 CPC for min pen) and Rs.5740/- (1913x3 criteeria of 6 CPC for max pen). With 50%MSP element it would have been Rs.5330/-(4330/-+1000/-) or Rs.5740/-+1000/-)as a min pension (lowest),respectively, to all Pre-96 PBORs, which could have been fairly reasonable and just dispensation.

And all the so called Committees (GoM, CoS and OROP/PiP) could have been spared the trouble.

Going by Maj Navdeep sir's figures of pensions to a 17 yrs Sepoys, the Govt appear to have simply rectified the shortcomings of earlier orders and there is nothing new. It is MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. But Sirs, we can only hope for better & Thanks.

vijoy said...

I am addressing this mail to anyone who can enlighten my pensionary benefits. SOMEONE rightly has expressed that many of the beneficiaries have already returned to their heavenly abode so when and how the the benefits can be availed?
I was released from the Indian Navy as MasterChiefElectrical(Radio) Artificer II on 22.07.1969 with 14 yrs service, I got of a condonation of 1 year to draw pension as having completed 15 yrs of service. I was granted a service pension of Rs 2722/ from 1.1.96 through a PPO issued in July 2004.As it appears that MCPOII & Master Chief Artificers II are all treated as MCPOII though their pay scales are different. Leave alone the current announcement about PBOR pension revision, the banks do not have any knowledge about the defence forces & the ranks.What should I do to upgrade my pension through the bank. ? What would be my basic pension as on 1.1.06 as per 6 CPC or notifications earlier on revision of pension of PBOR of pre 96 retirees.

Pokar Ram said...

Dear Vijoy 26 Jul 09 11:38 AM
1. Government has improved pension of pre-1996 retirees vide MOD letter 14(3)/2004-D(pension/services) vol III dated 01 Feb 06 and 02 May 06 taking into account 50% of maximum of pay scale (post 01 Jan 1996 ) for 33 years of service which can be accessed at pcdapension.nic.in/govtorders/circular350.htm.Further scrutiny of appendix ‘A’ table 44 shows that MCPO II in then group ‘X” with 15 years of service (as applicable to you) is exactly Rs 2722/= prior to revision. The same after revision comes to RS 2817/= with effect from 01 Jan 06 without taking into account dearness pension. This amount is prior to implementation of Sixth pay commission orders dated 01 Nov 2008
2. Subsequently the Rs 2817/- is re-fixed at Rs 6368/= with effect from 01 Jan 06 by multiplying with factor 2.26 post implementation of the sixth Pay commission orders as it exists todate. Now on this amount DA @22% is applicable with effect from 01 Jan 09. The total pension works out to Rs 7769 per month as on-date orders.
3.I shall be very glad to clarify further, if required- Mobile 09435056782 Cdr Pokar Ram (Retd)

$H@HB@@Z $!NGH said...

The service to the serving and veterans that Major Navdeep Singh is doing is so far unparallel in contemporary history

Major PP Singh