THE KARNATAKA CENTRAL GOVERNMENT PENSIONERS’ ASSOCIATION (REGD.) An affiliate of Bharat Pensioners Samaj(BPS) writes to Finance Minister GOI
SS Ramanatha Rao
Prdt Karnataka CGPA, &
Tel: 080-26619394; 0-9980204456
E-mail ID: hngrssrrao@gmail.com Bangalore;
November 23, 2014.
Respected
Hon’ble Minister,
I have just seen a news item in today’s Dailies (Nov 23) that
the Union Finance Minister has given indication to give relief to the salaried
class. This would obviously include pensioners. The statement was made by the
Minister in an Interaction with the PTI.
The Minister also spoke of the Govt going after the tax
evaders. The salaried class people are more in number and what they together
pay as tax, is just a miniscule, when compared to the rich class who have to
pay higher tax amounts, but manage to evade.
The Income Tax department spends more of its time, operations and
man-hours on this small tax-paying salaried class. It has got to direct its greater attention to
the rich/richer class. Yes, this has been the impression of the common man
(‘aam admi’) for years long. What the Minister has expressed is therefore a
very good attitude on the part of the Govt. We await to see the results in the
next six months.
I take this opportunity to write to the Hon’ble Minister for one
help/favour that is required both to the salaried class and the pensioners
class. This relates to the Grant of Interim Relief vis a vis the 7th
Pay Commission. The Commission has
maintained that the Govt has to make a ‘specific reference’ to it in this
behalf. The Terms of Reference to the
Commission indeed makes a reference to ‘interim report’ that may be given by
the Commission. The earlier Pay Commissions have come out with this grant of
interim relief. The State Governments have not refused to oblige their staff. I
do not understand the difference between ‘interim report’ and ‘interim relief’.
I met the CPC Team at Bangalore on
August 24, 2014; and the Chairman wanted a ‘specific reference’ on this. He
said that he had written to the Govt, but had not received any reply. Subsequently,
I have written to the Hon’ble Prime Minister to make a ’specific reference’ to
the Commission to consider this interim payment. This has twin advantages. One,
the staff and pensioners get some money now. This compensates the price rise.
This helps those aged members, who may not be alive by 2016, when the
Commission report comes into effect. Two, the heavy payment to be made by the
Government post-2016 would be less, avoiding a situation that arose in 2008
after the 6th Pay Commission report.
Kindly consider this Appeal favourably, and approve/grant
Interim Relief to the staff/pensioners –
either directly by a Govt Notification or through the Pay Commission -- with
effect from January 2014, to be paid with pay/pension for January 2015 as ‘New
Year Gift’. A common amount of Rs 5000 per month to all may be reasonable
enough.
With Great Regards,
Yours
sincerely,
(Sd)
SS Ramanatha Rao
The Hon’ble Minister for
Finance,
Govt of India, North
Block,
New Delhi 110 011.
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