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Sunday, October 14, 2012

First signs of acceptance of basing pension on ‘minimum of pay within the pay-band’ on the civil side


As regular readers are aware, as far as commissioned officers of the defence services are concerned, the Cabinet has already approved the formula that pension would now be calculated based on the minimum of pay within the pay-band based on fitment tables rather than the minimum of the pay-band itself. This is in line with what had been directed by the Armed Forces Tribunal. It’s another matter that as always the Defence Ministry has challenged the orders of the AFT before the Supreme Court where the matter is pending as of now.

Similarly, for civilian pensioners, the Principal Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal had passed analogous directions which the Government had challenged before the Delhi High Court.

However, the first signs of extension of similar benefits to civilian pensioners and thereby acceptance of the principles laid down by the CAT were visible in the 21st meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) held on 27 Sep 2012 under the aegis of Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) wherein the committee was informed that the agenda point was being treated as closed since the Govt was taking appropriate action in the direction of basing pension and family pension @ 50% and 30% respectively based on the minimum of pay within the pay-band.

The above becomes clear from a perusal of Serial No 3 (&12) of the Action Taken Report as reflected in the minutes of the meeting that can be accessed by clicking here.

The only pertinent issue that remains to be seen is whether the Govt ultimately agrees to release the benefits w.e.f 01 Jan 2006 rather than Aug 2012 as has been signified after the Cabinet meeting.  

9 comments:

PBOR said...

good going. wish AFs had learned from civil services how to look after the interests of its own organisation.

Tukaram V Manerajurikar said...

Sir, It shows that OROP is going to be implemented for AFs in very near future. Before VII PC ( Maybe before 2014 Election).

Capt Sharma said...

Scrutiny of list of participants at Appendix - I. indicates that only Wg. Cdr. Shri R. S. Johar
(Retd.),Secretary,Air Force Association, New Delhi had partcipated in this meeting. What about representatives from Army & Navy?

V Natarajan said...

Dear Maj Navdeep,

Sincere thanks for highlighting the SCOVA 21st Meeting Minutes wrt first signs of basing pre 2006 revised civilian pensions wrt MPWinPB The title of the items 3 & 12 and the record of decisions are as follows:

Sl. No. 3 & 12 of ATR :
(3)- Same fitment benefit to Pre-2006 pensioners as
recommended and implemented in respect of serving
employees by the VI CPC.
Parity between Past and Future Pensioners.
Stepping up of Pension and Family Pension to 50% and
30% respectively. Extension of new benefits
granted to the past pensioner.
(12)- The implementation of orders dated 01.09.2008
read with the orders dated 14.10.08 is not correct for
fixation of pension.

With regard to the issue of same benefit to pre-2006 pensioners as
given to serving employees by 6th CPC and parity between past and
future pensioners, the members were informed that CAT in its
judgement on 1.11.2011 had dismissed the issue. With regard to
issue of stepping up of pension and family pension to 50% and 30%
respectively of the minimum of pay in the payscale, the members
were informed that appropriate action in this regard is being
taken by the government. In view of the above, it has been treated
as closed.

My comments will follow in another post pl. V Natarajan

V Natarajan said...

Dear Maj Navdeep,

This is in contn of my earlier post of extracts of the said minutes of SCOVA 21st Meet.

1.Signs appear to be, at least, NOT NEGATIVE and somewhat positive.
2.Pr Cat judgment has been brought in to convey / caution that the dispute can not be wrt “Full Parity” between the past and future pensioners. THIS IS “NOT NEGATIVE TO ARRIVE AT OUR MINIMUM GUARANTEED PENSION viz AT MINIMUM EQUALITY IN AMOUNTS OF PRE AND POST REVISION WRT the pay scale of the post held and from which we retired)
3.Hence, “APPROPRIATE ACTION” if it means to consult the FITMENT TABLE (MOF-OM dt 30 08 2008) , its application will be only wrt “STEPPING UP” “of pension and family pension to 50% and 30% respectively of the minimum of pay in the payscale”.
4. Item being closed unilaterally may be to avoid any “legal fall-outs”.
5. It is significant to note – that while DOPPW’s OMs dt 1 9 2008 and 14 10 2008 are allowed to/do figure in the "title of items" and there is no reference to Gaz Notification dt 29 08 2008 (cited by Pr Cat in J/ment) and OM dt 3 10 2008 (quashed by Pr Cat in J/Ment).

Reg dte of application, I feel it has to be 1 1 2006 for various reasons and to avoid possible conflicts and disputes/ comparisons!

V Natarajan

Col Pardaman Singh said...

It seems we have not understood the implication of the AFT & CAT judgement. there is nothing to celebrate.It is just a removal of an anomaly.6th CPC as well as Govt had accepted Pen to be less than 50% & family Pen not to be less than 30% of pay in the pay band.But it was interpreted wrongly as min of pay band.Min of pay in the pay in the pay band means min of pay of the rank held at the time of retirement.As per 5th CPC the pension was revised at min of the pay of the rank held.By correct interpretation basic pen of Lt Col will increase by Rs 565 & family pen by Rs 339. Isn't it Pea nuts.As the anomaly occurred wef 1 Jan 06, the arrears should be given from the same date.Comment please.

Col Pardaman Singh

Col Pardaman Singh said...

Dear Navdeep
Why have you not published my comments? If there is something wrong, pl do let me know.

Col Pardaman Singh

Sumithra Chidananda said...

The Governments approach to bring all pre-2006 civilian central government pensioners also to the ambit of minimum fitment formula is an appropriate and logical approach.

It may not be much beneficial to those who retired after Jan 1996 with a running band of pay scale, as their pension has been multiplied by 2.26 and in most of the cases , they may be drawing higher pension than the proposed formula.

However, for the pensioners/family pensioners of pre-1996 scales, the gain would be substantial. Though, in general, the increase in the pension as per 5th CPC was around three fold, the minimum fixation in each scale was more than three fold in most of the cases. Hence, there exists some disparity, which would be removed by the government's action, as envisaged now.

Col Pardaman Singh said...

DEAR NAVDEEP, THERE ARE SPELLING MISTAKES & OMISSIONS IN MY MAIL DATED 21 OCT 12.I WOULD REQUEST U TO KINDLY REPOST THE CORRECTED VERSION.
It seems we have not understood the implication of the AFT & CAT judgments. There is nothing to celebrate.It is just removal of an anomaly.6th CPC as well as Govt had accepted that Pen will not be less than 50% & family Pen not to be less than 30% of pay in the pay band.But it was interpreted wrongly as min of pay band.Min of pay in the pay band means min of pay of the rank held at the time of retirement.As per 5th CPC the pension was revised at 50% of min of the pay of the rank held.By correct interpretation, basic pen of Lt Col will increase by Rs 565 & family pen by Rs 339. Isn't it Pea nuts.As the anomaly occurred wef 1 Jan 06, the arrears should be given from the same date.Comments please.

Col Pardaman Singh