Bharat Pensioners Samaj Draft Reply to 7th CPC questionnaire for comments & Suggestions
Ms Meena Agarwal
Secretary GOI
Seventh Central Pay Commission
Post Box No 4599 Hause Khas
P.O. New Delhi -110016
Madam,
Subject: 7th Questionnaire
Reference: D.O. No 7cpc/15/questionnaire dated
9th April 2014
‘Bharat Pensioners Samaj’. One of the identified
Pensioners Federation by GOI M/O
Personnel, PG & Pensions-DOPPW and a
stake holder. In its capacity as one of the oldest & largest
Pensioners Organization with over 500 Affiliated associations, submits
here under reply to items Nos 10.1 & 10.1.2 under the head ‘Pension’ in the
questionnaire
However, as Pension is not independent of Salary
suggestions for basic structure are for Salary/Pension.
Item No 10.1 New pension Scheme i.e The retirement benefits
of all Central Government employees appointed on or after 1.1.2004 are covered
by the New Pension Scheme (NPS). What has been the experience of the NPS in the
last decade?
Withdraw New Pension Scheme:
for following reasons:
(i) Pension of Govt.
employees is a deferred wage. Since wage paid out to them
during the course of
work tenure is kept low by design, to cater for pension. (ii) He/She forgoes
with interest 8.33% of govt. matching contribution to PF.
(iii) Pension is a
social security measure & cannot be subjected in any way to Market risks
(iii) It does not guarantee minimum return & thus lacks the basic fiber of
Social Security Scheme (iv). It is in no way better than the existing Scheme
(vi)It does not provide guaranteed Family Pension to dependents & disabled
siblings which exist in present scheme, even in case of spouse & dependent
parents where death of the employee occur in early years of service there is no
adequate social security.
Item
10.1.2 i.e. As for as pre 2004 appointees are concerned,
what should be the principles that govern the structure of pension and
retirement benefits?
Basic
structure of Pay/ Pension
1.Keeping in view the Socialistic structure of the country ,
constitutional provisions & to reduce vast
inequality between have & have lots, it is proposed: The Ratio between maximum & minimum of
Salary/ Pension be brought down to 9:1.
Ensuring uniformly equal rise in Salary/Pension of all employees/pensioners,
irrespective of pre- retiral status. By adopting common multiplication factor
for revision of Pension/Pay, as raising the ratio between minimum & maximum of salary/pension to 1:12.85 by 6thCPC , instead of reducing it, was
unconstitutional .
In order to cater to the need of talent attraction in all
cadres 7th pay commission is requested to first workout the top most revised
salary/pension, divide it by 9 to arrive at the minimum revised salary &
then derive a uniform multiplication factor
by dividing minimum of revised Salary/Pension by minimum of pre-revised
salary/Pension for revision of Pay & Pension with the condition that
Pension shall not in any case be less than 65% & family Pension 45% of the
last Pay in Pay Band i.e. Pay in Pay
Band+ GP /Pay scale or of average of
last 10 months emoluments (Whichever is more beneficial) as was worked out & recommended by TECS (Tata Economic Consultancy Services) consultant to Vth CPC (Para 127.9 Vol III 5th
CPC report)
2.One Rank one pension: ‘Justice
must be equal for all’. Otherwise, it breeds contempt,
discontentment, inefficiency, corruption & finally the insurgency. We have
seen it happening in Tribal areas of N.E, Chhatishgarh, Jharkand, Orisa, MP
etc.
Vast inequality of
income and wealth between lowest & the highest paid, violation of Article
14 has already induced contempt, discontent, inefficiency & corruption, in
Civil services.
Govt. granted One Rank
One Pension (OROP) to Armed forces, Judges granted it to themselves even a
period of private practice of lawyer judges, to be counted towards qualifying service.
Higher Bureaucracy got it through modified parity. All other Central Govt. employees &
Pensioners are definitely not the 2nd grade citizens! One Rank one Pension to all retirees is
constitutional requirement to ensure equality.
Defence
Pensioners: As far as Armed forces are concerned they do the
supreme sacrifice for the country & must be the highest paid .For them the
ratio between highest & lowest paid must not be more than 1:5 and instead
of being thrown out at an early age they must be transferred to
paramilitary/police force after active tenure in armed forces. Otherwise, if
these retired army personnel trained in all sort of weaponry are left uncared, they
may fall prey to undesirable anti National outfits. In their case it is also
essential that retirees from uniformed cadre & civilian defence Pensioners
are treated at Par for all purpose
2.Dearness relief : 100% neutralization with automatic Merger with Pension
whenever it goes to 50% :The Pension of Central Government Pensioners undergo revision
only once in 10 years during which period the pension structure gets seriously
dis-aligned; 50% increase in price takes place even in less than 5
years. This results in considerable erosion of the financial position of
the pensioner. DR does not adequately take care of inflation at this level.
Working employees are getting automatic relief by way of 25% increase in
their allowances with every 50% rise in Dearness Allowance. As pensioners do
not get any allowances, they feel discriminated against. In order to strike a
balance, DR may be automatically merged with Pension whenever it goes to 50% .
3.Additional old age Pension : 5%
upward enhancement in pension be granted every five years’ after the age of 60 years & upto 80 years
& thereafter as per existing dispensation. As in the present scenario of climatic
changes, incidence of pesticides and rising pollution old age disabilities/diseases set
in by the time an employee retires and go on manifesting very fast,
needing additional finances to take care of these disabilities and diseases,
especially as the cost of health care has gone very high.
4.Pension to be net of Income Tax : The purchase value of pension gets
reduced day by day due to continuously high inflation and steep rise in cost of
food items and medical facilities. Retired persons/Senior citizens do not enjoy
fully public goods and services provided by Government for citizens due to lack
of mobility and many other factors. Their ability to pay tax gets reduced from
year to year after retirement due to ever-increasing expenditure on food and
medicines and other incidentals. Their net worth at year end gets reduced considerably
as compared to the beginning of the year. Inflation, for a pensioner is much
more than any tax. It erodes the major part of the already inadequate pension.
To enable pensioners, at the far end of their lives, to live in minimum comfort
and to cater for ever rising cost of living, they may be spared from paying
Income Tax.
5. Restoration of commuted value of Pension in 12 years: Commutation value in respect of employee superannuating at
the age of 60 years between 1.1.1996 and 31.12.2005 and commuting a portion of
pension within a period of one year would be equal to 9.81 years Purchase.
After adding thereto a further period of two years for recovery of interest, in
terms of observation of Supreme Court in their judgment in writ petitions No 395-61
of 1983 decided in December 1986, it would be reasonable to restore commuted
portion of pension in 12 years instead of present 15 years. In case of persons
superannuating at the age of 60 years after 31.12.2005 and seeking commutation
within a year, numbers of purchase years have been further reduced to 8.194.
Also, the mortality rate of 60 plus Indians has considerably reduced ever since
Supreme Court judgment in 1986; the life expectancy stands at 76 years now. Therefore, restoration
of commuted value of Pension after 12 years is fully justified.
6. The 6th Central Pay Commission’s improved benefits,
e.g. full pension for 20 years of service/10 years in superannuation cases,
last pay drawn or average of last 10 months’ pay whichever is beneficial to the
retiring employee as emoluments for computation of pension etc., have been
limited only to post-1.1.2006 retirees.
This is in violation of the letter and spirit of Hon’ble Apex Court judgment
in Nakara Case.
We appeal to the
7th CPC to extend the above benefits to all pre-1.1.2006 retirees
with monetary benefit from 1.1.2006 to do them equal justice. And that
new/improved benefits which 7th CPC may recommend, too be made
equally applicable to present & past pensioners
7..Medical
facilities: “Health
is not a luxury” and “not be the sole possession of a privileged few”. It is a
Fundamental Right of all present & past Employees!
To ensure
hassle free health care facility to Pensioners/family pensioners, Smart Cards
be issued irrespective of departments to all Pensioners and their Dependents
for cashless medical facilities across the country. These smart cards should be
valid in
• all Govt. hospitals
• all NABH accredited
Multi Super Specialty hospitals across the country which have been allotted land at concessional rate or
given any aid or concession by the Central or the State govt.
• all CGHS,
RELHS & ECHS empanelled hospitals across the country.
·
Medical attendants. For reimbursement
of bills for treatment & for hospitalization . No referral should be
insisted in case of medical emergencies. For the purpose of reference for
hospitalization & reimbursement of expenditure thereon in other than
emergency cases Doctors/Medical officers working in different Central/State
Govt. department dispensaries/health units should be recognized as Authorized
medical attendant.
The
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is recognized as a
fundamental right of all workers in terms of Article 21 read with Article
39(c), 41, 43, 48A and all related Articles as pronounced by the Supreme Court
in Consumer Education and Research Centre & Others vs Union of
India (AIR 1995 Supreme Court 922) The Supreme court has held that the
right to health to a worker is an integral facet of meaningful right to life to
have not only a meaningful existence but also robust health and vigour.
Therefore, the right to health, medical aid to protect the health and vigour of
a worker while in service or post retirement is a fundamental right-to make
life of a worker meaningful and purposeful with dignity of person. Thus
health care is not only a welfare measure but is a Fundamental Right.
We suggest that,
all the pensioners, irrespective of pre-retiral class and status, be treated as
same category of citizens and the same homogenous group. There should be no
class or category based discrimination and all must be provided Health care
services at par .
8. Hospital Regulatory Authority:To ensure that the
hospitals do not avoid providing reasonable care to smart card holders and
other poor citizens, a Hospital Regulatory Authority should be created to bring
all NABH-accredited hospitals and NABL-accredited diagnostic Labs under its
constant monitoring of quality, rates for different procedures & timely
bill payments by Govt. agencies and Insurance companies. CGHS rates be revised
keeping in mind the workability and market conditions.
9.Fixed Medical
allowance (FMA): As is recorded in Para 5 of the minutes of Committee of
Secretaries (COS) held on 15.04.2010 (Reference Cabinet Secretariat,
Rashtrapati Bhavan No 502/2/3/2010-C.A.V Doc No. CD (C.A.V) 42/2010 Minutes of
COS meeting dated 15.4.2010) which discussed enhancement of FMA: CGHS card
estimates for serving Personnel since estimates are not available separately
for pensioners M/O Health & Family Welfare had assessed the total cost per
card p.a. in 2007-2008 = Rs 16435 i.e. Rs.1369 per month for OPD. Adding to its
inflation the figure today is well over Rs 2000/- PM. Ministry of Labour &
Employment, Govt. of India vide its letter no. G-25012/2/2011-SSI dated
07.06.2013 has already enhanced FMA to Rs 2000/- PM for EPFO beneficiaries.
Thus, to help elderly pensioners to look after their health, Adequate raise in
FMA will encourage a good number of pensioners to opt out of OPD facility which
will reduce overcrowding in hospitals. OPD through Insurance will cost much
more to the Govt. As such the proposal for raising Fixed Medical allowance to
Pensioners is fully justified and is financially viable.
We suggest that FMA for all C.G.
Pensioners be raised to at least Rs 2000/- PM without any distance restriction
linking it to Dearness Relief for automatic further increase. We further demand
that FMA be exempted from INCOME TAX: Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA) is a
compensatory allowance to reimburse the medical expenses. As Medical
Reimbursement is not taxable, FMA should also be exempted from Income Tax.
10.Grievance redressal Mechanism: Pensioners/Family
Pensioners are exploited, harassed and humiliated by their own counterparts in
chair, who at the sight of an old person adopt a wooden face and indifferent
attitude. Pensioners do not have representation even in Forums & Committees
wherein pension policies and connected matters are discussed. The forum of
Pension Adalat too is not of much avail as it meets only once a year which is
too long a period for an elderly nearer to his end. Moreover, these Adalats
deal with settlement claims only. SCOVA too meets only twice a year for about 3
hours at each occasion. Moreover, the scope of SCOVA is limited to feedback on
Government policies. DOP (P&PW) is perceived as a toothless authority which
lacks direct Service Delivery Capability. It has been striving over
the years to redress the Pensioners’ grievances through the ‘Sevottam’ model of
the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public grievances; in the
absence of strict timeline with punitive clause it is, however, proving to be a
failure. Grievances are either not resolved for years or closed arbitrarily
without resolving.
We therefore,
appeal that for resolving Pensioners complaints of all pensioners,
(i) A strict time line with punitive clause be introduced in
“Sevottam model”
(ii) Grievances are not allowed to be closed without resolving.
(iii) SCOVA be upgraded to JCM level covering all Pensioners by
introducing suitable legislative amendment if required.
11.
Representations in various committees : As recommended vide Vth CPC report Vol
III para 141.30 Pensioners’ representatives should be included in various
committees & other Fora of Govt where issues relating to the welfare of
pensioners are likely to be discussed &debated :
Discussing, debating
and deciding the matters / Policies relating to Pensioners, with
representatives other than those of pensioners, is unfair & against the
Rules of ‘Natural Justice’. At present various Committees like National Anomaly
Committee (NAC) and JCM (on Pensioner matters), are there wherein matters / policies
relating to pensioners’ welfare are discussed and decided, but they do not have
pensioners’ representatives with the result their viewpoints, hardships &
anomalies are not properly represented. As pensioners are a homogenous class,
there is an urgent need to constitute separate Committees for pensioners
wherein matters / policies / anomalies relating to pensioners of all Groups,
categories &departments may be discussed.
With regards
Truly Yours,
ER.S.C.Maheshwari
Secy.Genl. Bharat
Pensioners Samaj
NOO
Copy: Sh.Shiv Gopal Mishra Secretay JCM (Staff side)
for necessary favourable action.
S.C.Maheshwari
Secy. Genl. BPS
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